1

N[MS torn] 1st

Memorial, ,explanation, or defense which the government of the

villa of San Fernando, Royal Presidio of San Antonio de Bexar, capital

of the province of Texas, has placed at the feet of its present

, interim governor, Don Rafael MCaJrCtlJn[e]z Pacheco, in this year of

1787, to forestal~ any decrees which might be forthcoming from the

commandery general contrary to the irrefutable right that these resi­

dents have to the horses and cattle of this province, which the afore­

said,commandery, [general], mis-informed by the previous governor, Don

Domi~go Cabel~o, unjustly appropriated for the royal treasUry.

[Flourish] [Flourish] [Flourish]

\t,

2

Senor interim governor, Don Rafael M[aJrCt1Jn[e]z Pacheco

,The cavildo, justicia ~ regimiento of this villa of SCaJn Fernan~

do"Royal Presidio of San Antonio de Bexar, capital of the province of

Texas; r~presenting the royal ,authority which our lord, the king (may"

God keep him), has placed in us, [come speaking] for ourselves and in

the name of our town and the citizenry of our jurisdiction, as the

[governingJ fathers of it. We must defend their rights and posses-

sions, as we have defended and protected them up to now. Also speak-

ing in, conjunction with us, to augment and strengthen the rights which

we are to assert and d~fend, [are] the two representatives of the com-

munity, Don Juan Flores and Don Ma~ario Sambrano; [they' 'are] hereby

admitted for that purpose by the legal instruments and papers of their

representation, which they have duly presented to us and which we have

placed' in the protocol of legal instruments and papers for this par-

ticular case. Gathered, and congregated, as 'is our custom, ,in our

cavildo buil'dings and ayuntamiento hall, we [have givenJ serious and

mature consideration to the matter at hand. Having heard and consid-, I

ered at 'length II v the opinions of all the CMS torn: "individuals"]

and, represent'ative thereupon, and having agreed with one voice, based

on all'the CMS torn: "rights"?] which attend us by common and munici-

pal law, we Cnow] appear before Your Lordship, in whom, immediately

above u~' 'reside the higher powers of royal authority and the adminis-

tratlo'n, of" justice, [and] state Cthe following]: [We wish] to fore-

stall 'or prepare a remedy against whate'ver orders may be issued hence-,

forth, 'from the tribunals to which this province and villa are subject'

(e'specially 'from the c6mmandery general' of ,these Interior Provinces of

New Spain,. ,[which'was] previously mi,sin,formed by the prior government),

3

contrary to the undeniable, indisputable, and well founded rights

which.·we now have, have had, [and shall have] in the future to the

cattle and horses that [MS torn: "gr-azeU?J and are found on the pas­

tures .or surroWlding lands of t.his [MS torn: "villa"?] to a distance

'of more than twenty-five leagues, especially to the west, north, and

east. CMS torn:' "These"] lands and pastures have for the past sixty'

years been. recognized and held 'by our grandfathers., fathers, and

'ancestors, the earliest privileged settlers, as their own,.legitimate

[propertyJ. They held them· under the best founded and most just

titles of good faith, without any protest from other early [settlers]

or from other landovmers with better titles or rights. We now have

and recognize [this right ] with equally just / /2 titles, because we

are their [MS torn: "heirs"J, and since five of the ten years of pos­

session demanded by the municipal laws of our Indies, and elsewhere in

the world~ for establishing legitimate title have elapsed; of this,

Your .Lordship is well aware. With r.egard to both kinds [of cattleJ,

we have suffered grave harm in the past seven years from the unjust

decrees (speaking with due respect) of:Your Lordship's predecessor [in

the] government, Don Domingo Cavelloo He published general bandos and

enfor~ed them by personal orders--which we will cite here at the prop­

er time--under the pretext that [the bandos] were prepared by virtue

of orders emanating from this commandery generale We were never shown

the. original, {orders], even after requesting them several times orally

and in writing.. We could not believe nor have we since been able to

beli'eve, that such ~ formal, respectable, and honored tribunal--under

whose auspices the royal kindness 'of'our Catholic monarch had pl~ced

us--would have taken such ill-suited and drastic action in a matter of

4

such importance and of such concern to our subsistence. If it were

true that the or'ders c,ame from [that tribunal], we should have feared

and [should now] fear their repetition, because of their refusal,

which.we have experienced in this ,presumptive case up to now, to hear

'the repeated, 'grave petitions made by ourselves and through our repre-

sentative. The tribunal has made no effort to obtain thorough infor­

'2vmation on ,the indisputable truth, and origin of these, our II horses

and ,[MS torn: "cattle, nor the legitimate"] possession which we have

had for sixty years of the pastures where, they graze. They are

included within'the aforesaid limits, as' we shall later show [when we

proveJ,that [it wasJ for justifiable reasons beyond our control that\

[thestockJ ,ha~ strayed, a b~t from the specific, individual lands of

our ranchos. [We also wish] to clear ,away all the confusion and

: obscurity in which the aforesaid, ,previous governor tried to invol;Te

this matter, by confusing our horses and cattle" contained within the

aforesaid, areas, with those [cattle] which in a way might be consid-

ered mestenos and [thereforeJ pertaining to the king, since they graze

outside of the aforesaid lands beyond the Guadalupe River, on lands

which we have never called ours and which we hold to be unclaimed and

unused. [Those cattle] run wild without marks or brands, although

they were ,propagated from our own, as we shall show with 'undeniable

arguments and'facts. [Yet] we [MS torn: "cede"] them and have ceded

them 'freely 'and voluntarily to [MS torn: "help with"J parts of the

enormous sums which the kin,g expends on the presidios and heathen

trib'es of this provinc,e. Finally , despite all that we' have explained

and ~,ertified,to Your Lordship in reply to the official letter which

you deigne~ to write us on Augu~t 28 of the present year of 1787, we

5

now restate 'all our points with reference to it and [enumerate] the

reasons and motives which have seemed to 'us sufficient to again

,restate our'right~. [We shall] summarize herein everything [which],

up to now, 113 we had said and have said, alleged, and argued in

defense of this particular mattere We present this memorial to Your

,~ordship, quite certain, if our egotism does not deceive us~ that Your

Lordship is the only one who will hear our pleas, understand our argu­

ment, uphold justice for us, restore to us our former possessions, and,

firmly establish our legitimate ownership of said h.orses and cattle

contained on the ,afore-mentioned lands. [We] renounce henceforth and

. forever, 'any interest, claim, title, or right which we had, or could

have had" to any [cattle] which by any chance might graze or range in

,the vast woods of the whole territory of this province, to use the

words of the lord assessor of this commandery general (if those are

his words) in.his decree of April 3,1784. Because you have our jus­

tice in your sight and in your hands, you will defend us against what­

ever consequences might re-emerge from this matter, or be decreed by

superior tribunals previously misinformed by the enemies of our cause,

as. if it were your own, for up to now, we have been shown by the

real actions which we daily experi'ence, feel; and enjoy, the innate,

constant, ,and noble desires which Your Lordship has for our recovery,

survival" and prosperity. These are reasons for which we are justly

enco~,aged and moved to place ourselves, with this memorial, under

your /13v noble patronage. We divide [the memorial] into two princi­

pal articles~ In the first one, we shall demonstrate and prove,

beyond doubt and in as many ways as possible, the origin and increase

. of said horSes and cattle contained within 'said territories, and the

\,'

l,egal r.ight which we have to them and to the lands where they graze.'

IIi the s.econd [articleJ, we shall, give, the' reasons why the proximate

,past'governor seized them from our hands, one of [the reasonsJ--and

perhaps the'principal one--bei~g the Cpersonal] interest, concealed

under the.' pretexts, of s'uperior orders, with whic.h ,he devoted himself

t9 declari:ng indiscrimi.nately an~ everywhere [that] all orexano cattle

were :'roya'l property.

'I. ,With r~gard to the first article.

We be'g Your Lordship's attention and shall now begin. to prove the

first' proposition of the first article, with reliable ,reports, with

[MS torn:' "well founded arguments"], with unimpeachable eyewitnesses,

with legal' documents, and finally, with approved laws. But [our]

speaking of laws should be confined to the practicioners of [MS torn:

"law"J, because only they, with an understanding of the elemental

principles of t~is most noble profession, can properly apply [those

lawsJ to the proof in this case, and give them their real and true '

meaning, where, how, and when it is necessaryQ [Thus] may Your Lord-

ship, and anyone else who reads this, not be surprised at'the laws

which' 'we sh,all necessarily cite herein. Besides being Spanish, [they

are] quite intelligible, //4 clear, and·definite. We follow and

shall follow in this part the invaluable expediente or document which

Senor Doctor Don Antoni.o Bustamente, most worthy governor of the

vacant see of this new bishopric, saw fit to make regarding this par-

ticular matter for the representative of this community, Don Juan

Flores .. We retain a l.egal copy <Df [this, expedienteJ in our protocol,

in twenty~four leaves, to which we would refer and shall refer

i!

· .1

whe~ever necessary, and with which·we shall surely succeed, because

the laws which we shall copy here will be faithfully identical to

those which [BustamenteJ cites there to defend and prove [his caseJ.

2. With these suppositions, it is an evident and sure fact that

in the year [17J15 of this present century, this province of Texas

b~gan to be settled. It was so named by the early commanders who made

various expeditions through it, under superior orders. They had only

the satisfaction of exploring [the province], not the good fortune of

settling it, until, in the aforesaid year, some bold settlers set out

from the two adjoining provinces--that of the·Nuebo Reyno ~e Leon, or

Monte.rrey, and that of Nueba Extremadura, Monclova, or Coahulla--which'

were at that time the outermost frontiers of this kingdom of New

Spain.' [They were] seeking glory or the advancement of their own pri-

vate "interests, having received certain specific information that the

many heathen nations which inhabited //4v the territory of said prov-

inces at that time, as well as the best lands of this [provinceJ, were

at peace. Of these [nations] we retain only a sad memory, since other

[nations] have taken over this country. With the consent of their

leaders, [the settlers] undertook and set out with manly courage to

come in search of this famous and much lauded San Antonio River. On

its banks,. more or less where our villa is located today, they formed

a settlement. [They] brought with them not only t~ir families of

wives an~ children, but all of their livestock [in] horses, cows,

goats, .sheep, and swi.ne, and everythi~g which they considered neces-\

sary for their subsistence. [They] returned from time to time to the

presidio of San Juan Bauptista del R!o ,Grande for their spiritual

relief~ [They] had no more troops for their defense than those which

8

they formed from ~~ng themselves.· Today there remain only the mem­

oirs of their journey [written] by their leaders, who were Don Mateo

Carabajal, [MS torn: "Don'''J Cristobal: Carabajal, and Don FranC,cisJco

Hernandez, and the prop,ogation and survival, amo,ng their descendants

and our ,relatives, of t'he [stoc'kJ which they introduced. But [no one

. remembers] 'th,e honors de'served by such, great men for their merits as

[ourJ first settlers.

3. Followi~g the establishment of this first new settlement,

during the period from this aforesaid year of [17]15 to the //5 year

[17J21 or [17J22, there were attempts in this viceroyalty of New Spai~

to separate this province of Texas from the other aforesaid [prov­

incesJ, and as it was attempted, sO,it was done. Under the orders of

said viceroyalty, or captaincy general, ,a company of fifty mounted

troops,. with some families of volunteer settlers, commanded by the

,first captain, or governor, Don Mat1a,s Garc!a, came in. not only to

divide and settle ,[the provinceJ, but also to contain the French, who

were likewise the first settlers of the province of Luisiana and who

were ,pressing across the border of our kingdom of New Spain~. The

presidio of N[ue~Jtra Senora del Pilar de los Adaes was established

about two hundred fifty le,agues from here. It held the line against

the aforesaid French and'was named the capital of this province. It

was the residence of the governors almost up to the time of 'its aban­

donment in the year ,[17J73. With the first settlers [of San Antonio],

there, also came some priests from the convents of Santa Cruz de Quere­

taro and of NCuesJtra Sefiora de Guadalupe de Zacatecas. Of these, two'

remain'e'd here and founded the mission of San Antonio [de Valero], not

where'it i,8 now located, 'but' at the place called Los Adobitos. The

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other [priests] went on to found, and did found, one after another,

the mis'sions ,which were properly calle'd the Texas [missions], after

the heathen Indian nation of that name, among / /5v whom, and among the

, other heathen Indians converted to the faith" a great harvest of soul~

'Was. made, until, one after an,other, [the mission's] were totally aban-

, doned, as they are today. We call attention here [to that fact] for a'

reason, 'in case it is not known and realized that neither the first

settlers of the aforesaid pres'idio of Los Adaes and its missions, nor

, th.ose ~ho' came after them, could ever succeed in starting the breeding

or raising of cattle, horses, sheep, an~ goats, which so many times

were 'brought i.nto those lands or settlements. Whether this was

because of, the land, the grass, the water, the climate, or for what-

ever r.eason, they were only able to preserve small numbers of said

. species with, great effort, such that when· that area was abandoned in

the year [17J73,. the lands remained as empty [of cattleJ as before.

Finally, in [17J21 or [17J22, as a result of a small war which took

place between the new Spanish and French settlers of one province and

another in the year [17J20, the Marquez de San Miguel de Aguallo, with

five hundred mounted troops, came in to formalize the provincial [gov-

ernmentJ and its limits. Having d~ne so, and having left t?ings in

good or,der, he withdr'ew, .leaving, as the official governor~· Don Fer­

nando / /6 Perez de Almazful, along withone hundred troops. [He left]

the aforesaid Don Mat!as Garc1a as captain of this presidio· of San

Antonio de Bexar, with fifty-three [men], including the officers. Ten

(of these were retired in the year [17J29 by the vicitador, Don Pedro

de Ribera. tThe company] remained with forty-three [menJ until

[17]7~; when the number was increased to one hundred. The company

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today ,operates with.', s,even less ,than [that numbe'rJ.

4. In addition to this presidio of Sa,n, Antoni,o de Bexar and [the, \

pr'esidioJ of Los Adae,s,'" wi,th its Texas mi,ssi,ons, which were the first

s'ettlem,ents o,t thi,s unfortunate province,' several other presidios and, ,

mis'sians'were founded between the years [1'7J21 and [1'7J58 ~ and suf-

'fered the sad' fate of bei~g,abandoned, as is well known. The presidio

of La 'Bah!.a del Esp1:ritu Santo was established, with a mission of the

same name, which exists today, [butJ another, N[uesJtra Senora del'.

Rosario, was abandoned by its Indians and was closed in the year

, [17]79. The five missions near thi~" villa and presidio were estab-\!\

lished, and finally this, our villa of San Fernando, was founded by

fourteen families of [Canary] Islanders. With their journey paid by

the king, they came' and founded this community, which, with the [help

ofJ the above-mentioned creoles 'who had already established the set-

tlement, ,has been growing continuously, such that today it contains,

almost fourteen hundred persons, including children. 5. In the

lighto~ jj6v such important facts, without which it would be impossi-

ble to determine clearly and definitely the origin of our stock, we

shall now collect our evidence, because those immediately responsible

for the first introduction [of cattleJ were the first settlers men-

tioned above, and the [Canary] Islanders, who in the aforesaid year,

[17]31, came to give, and did give, this town formal establishment as

a villa. So were the missions in the vicinity and the settlers and'

missions of La'Bah1a. Not once ,but many times, at a cost of great

effort and expense ,from their own funds, and at a greater danger to

their'l'ives--due to the war which 'had already 'broken out--they intro~

duced·several lots'of stock of all the 'afore-mentioned varieties. It

, ('

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s~ould be pointed out that each of the fourteen [Canary] Islander fam-.

ilies' received five cows and a bull, [MS ·torn: "five"] mares and a

.stallion, etc., at the expense of the royal treasury. Picking [the

cattle] up on the.ir [MS torn: "pass.age·"?] thro.ugh the province of

Coahuila, [the Islanders] also brought them in, as-the other [animals

had been introducedJ. [This is] an evident sign that [MS torn:

"th.ere was tv] sti.ll not much here in the way of livestock. Your Lord~

shi.p [must. be] struck h.ere, before God and the entire world, [with]

the necessary, true, and evident origin. of our cattle, with which

facts' we have established, in a proof as clear as daylight, the first

point in the proposition which we set forth.

6. The second point should consist, and //7 does consist, of

well-founded arguments which will show beyond a doubt the rights which

we now, have, have had, [and shall have] to said cattle in the future.

It is an indisputable [fact] that our ancestors, the first and subse­

quent s'ettlers of this villa, presidio, and missions, were the ones to

bring in said cattle. Thus, [the cattle] belong to no one but them,

or to those' who, in their absence, might represent their persons,

rights, and claims. This consequence is an unassailable legal [factJ,

and we shall clarify it further by stating that the previous governor,

Don Domingo Cabello, imagined, or was led to imagine--and ,we do not

doubt that he also caused the lord assessor of this commandery general

to imagine--that the different commanders who made the early expedi­

tions into this province, as'has been said, carried 'cattle with them

for the daily maintenance of their troops·, and also horses for

remounts, and that when a horse. gave out, they left a mare [with itJ,

or vice versa. But these measures--which, had they been taken thus,

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wouid provoke laughter in any sensible, intelligent, and thoughtful

man--were not just dreams, believable only by impassioned men without

wits, and' without experience, who, without reflecting that these were

stories for children or old women, //7v tried with such wild fantasy

to ob'scure a right, so solidly founded as the right which we have to

said cattle"and to take them away from us. [These tales] were and

are p~ely fantastic illusions, first, because this province was and

still is inundated with buffalo cattle, as is evident and known by

everyone. Since everyone knew about them and liked them as food, it

would have been foolish for such experienced commanders to undertake

such:long marches burdened With [animals for] food when it was unne-

cessary, there being more than enough here. Second, if [the stories]

had actually been true, [we] would find many cattle and horses, or at

least some, or perhaps some sl.ight traces of their bones in all the

innumerable woods, rivers, or springs [MS torn: "throughout"] the

vast extent of this province, and not tMS torn: Ujust"] in the immed-

iate area of this villa, missions, and ,presidio, CMS torn:, "or"] of La'

Bahla and its missions. [Our cattle], 'we ~ght say, [live] by the

waters of our canals, raised under our care and in oUr shadow, for;

altho~gh we have abandoned them for short periods, forced by Indian

hostilities to save our lives from [attack], we have never abandoned

them altogether. Third, in case any animal did give out, it would

have been //8 wise, obviously, to slaughter it and obtain its meat,

since it was [there] for food, and not 'get rid of one [animal] as

useless for the march, [much less] to leave it another good one as a

mate., We must consider ,this very same ~thing for the horses, because,

if one became useless on the march, it v~uld have been folly to leave

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behind another good one just for the vain notion of filling this prov-

ince with this type [o~ stockJ. Fourth and finally, not the slightest

trace of such a fantasy, or tale--and we call it an illusion--was

fotind or can be found in the diaries of those commanders, the o~igin-

als o.r which, prec'isely, are to be found in the archives of the cap-,

taincy general,'to which we shall refer with confidence should it

become necessary. Thus,' it follows that these cattle are ours; if

{the factJ itself is incontrovertible, it is all the more so with

these valid arguments, which upon reflection become more clearly evi-

dent.\

7. The ~hird point of the aforesaid first proposition of this

first article we shall base on the most solid foundation of all natur-

al .,law: 'the [testimony] of eyewitnesses ~ We ourselves have seen it ..

No one 'can deny this, and everyone is satisfied [that it is so]. As

the familiar ,saying goes, the witness condemns the man, principally

, //8vbecause witnesses [combine] knowledge and conscience, as do the

ones wh.om we shall cite'. : [They are] men free of any reproach or vice

which would even remotely cause t~em to be suspected; in a ~ord, they

are 'outstanding [citizensJ. Speaking as we do in such an important

matter, and vested with royal authorit'y, we should not' seek, nor do we

seek, t'o establish here anything but the undeniable truth,. such as we

have' ~stablished and abundantly proved. [We seekJ to give [that

truth] more vigor, force, we,ight, and body, not only thro:ugh the

afore-cited arguments, but also through eyewitnesses who still live in

this, our community. They are Don Luis Antonio Menchaca, retired cap-'

tain of' this presidio of Bexar, Don Baltazar Perez, retired alferez~

Don Jose Mo~tes, 'Don Fran[ci'sJco Flores, and Don Nicolas Quinones. Of

(t

14

the Islanders who came to settle and formally organize our villa, the"

only two remaini~g [are] DOh Juan Leal and Don Jose Perez Casanoba.

[MS torn: "All"] have undertaken many municipal functions in this

community, except for Don Nicolas Quinones. He is under seventy years

of age, Don Jos,e Casanoba is over ninety, and Don Juan Leal is over a

hundred. At every turn, they loudly proclaim that they not only knew

the first important settlers by sight--Don Mateo Carabajal, Don Chris-

tobal Carabajal, and Don FranCcisJco Hernandez, along with many others

who accompanied them //9 to establish the first settlement in this

country--but also dealt with them on many occasions. They saw with

their ,own eyes the little handfuls of horses and cattle that each one.

'of the settlers o,r the two ,presidios and'their missions had. [They

were] so few that \each of [the settlers] could hold his entire pOSSeS-,

si.ons of th,ese cattle, as they say, in the palm of his hand. They

could ,be seen around their homes and missions. The [witnesses] also'

learned from the very [settlers] themselves that they were the first

and only ones, for their bwn part, along with the missions for their

part, who brought the' first breedipg stock of this type from the

ne,ighboring provinces. Not only did they learn this, and knoW' the

first settlers, and see the few cattle 'which they had, but they saw

With their own eyes that at that time, 'there was not the least sign,

that stock of this kind had ever existed in any or all of'the vast

woods in the entire territory of this province. Rather, it was a~it-

ted and reported that the horses and c,at'tle on hand at these two

aforesaid presidios and the missions were so few that the aforesaid

. Islander families, as the two [witnesses] cited here testify and

declare, w~re forced to bri,ng five cows and a bull, five 'mares and a

1('J'

15~

stallion, five ewes and a ram, etc., from the province of Coahuila,

/ /9v all of which the lcing paid for out of his royal treasury. The

expense and labor of their transport would have been superfluous if

there had been any mes,tetras, of thi.s k.i,nd i,n the province. Ultimately,

the arguments- already presented and those whi.ch. we shall offer later,

which prove our solid r,ights to said cattle, can only be denied, by

those who are unaware that in those early days, a domestic cow (for

there were no wild ones) was worth thirty'pesos--as is well known even

today~-or,who do not know that, [in exchange] for two horses with

whic,h to do military service, an Islander, gave Jose Perez [Casanova]

a thirty-~ lot next to the church, as shown in the deed of sale.

[The 10tJ was valued at a minimum of five pesos per vara at that time,

whereas today [MS torn: "it is worth"] ten pesos [per varaJ. [There­

fore] he paid seventy-five pesos for each' horse 0 [This isJ obvious

proof of the scarcity of this stock at 'that time, [proofJ,which sup­

ports, [our claim as to] their origin and to our rights. [There is]

much more' proof of this nature which we shall omit so as not to burden

,Your Lordship, but we shall not" pass silently over the [fact] that the

king, either before this province was settled or after its settlement,

or up to today, has never had a hacienda for flO horses or cattle in

this province. Therefore, what st,ock'there is belongs by le,gitimate

right .to his subj,ects; the first settlers, or those who might have

hereditary, rights through the~. Those [first settlers] and those who

followe'd them, brought in the first herds and developed them to their

present [state]. And although our lives and our property have been,

are now, and will be at the dis.posal of our sovere.ign, as we in fact

acknOwledge and 'grant in all due obedience, this does not prevent our

16

'being the legitimate owners" for [the king] has most generously trans-

ferred to us the possession of his lands and all that we raise on them

for ,our subsistence.

8. The fourth point, likewise of'the first proposition of the

first arti~le, is to consist, and does consist--as we have set forth-~

of demonstrating, with juridical and legal documents, the rights which

we have to said horses and cattle. We shall strive no less energetic~

ally on this point, and in quoting, producing, and displaying [these

documents] where necessary, than in everything else that we have said

and claimed. Having done this and set it forth, it gives us satisfac~

tion to say'resolutely //lOv and firmly, that no arguments or docu-

ments. as good or better [than these] can be offered as 'proof by the

opposition" or [by] the treasury, not even the most minimal proof of

one kind'or another 0

<:

We, too, glory in being subjects of such a pow-

If erful king and defenders of all things which are his by right of pre-

rogative. We would immediately surrender these cattle if, as there

are so many just reasons for holding them and defending them as ours,

we would find the slightest reason to consider t~em as his.

9. Having stated t,'his ,'we know quite well, as does everyone,

that in the year 1774, the citizen Carlos Martlnez brought a number of

branded and orejano cattle to this villa from the pastures of his

ranch, in order to sell them in this villa and thus supply the needs

of' his family as well as his, own pers0D:o: He 'considered, and had a

,right to consider, his whatever [cattle] were born or found on the

past.ures which he owned in good faith. [He had] already fulfilled the

J / '/1,1 ·ten-year period [associated 'with that· rule so generally applled

and accepted in natural law, or the law of persons, that [the stock]

17

born on the land of another belongs to the owner of that la.hd. How­

ever, the' lord Baron de Riperda, who was, governor of this province at

the,time, seemed preoccupied with the baseless [yet] persistent

notion, which had been instilled in him since his arrival in [the

province] by the, ministers of these missions, that all orejano cattle,

wherever they might be found, belo~ged to [the missions] because they

were the ones who had owned the most [cattle] in the past, and who

s,till owned th.e most at the time 0 [They] also [claimed the cattle]

thro:ugh the rule of natural law that the greater absorbs the lesser,

[which rule was] ,poorly understood and badly applied in this case.

[Ripperda] should have ordered that until this point, or litigation,

[which had been] only verbally discussed between the missions and the

citizens, were formalized and defined, no citizen should take any of

the orejano cattle. [ActuallyJ, he ordered seizure of said orejano

cattle, and, although he did,not, give them to the missions, due to the

pending question as 'to whether [the cattle] belonged to them or not,

still less did he reservelthem for the ki~g, because he actually knew

quite well that they 'did not belong to him in any way. Rather, he

applied them to works of the church, as is evident and generally

known, and as: we shall prove, not only through the afore-cited Carlos

Martfnez, but also thro~gh the extraction of church documents which

bear it Quto It [all] happened just as we have stated. In the year

[17J78, When //llv the Cavallero de Croix, the first commandant gener- .

al of these ·Interior Provinces of New Spain, was in this capital on

his, general vizita, said Carlos Martfnez appeared before the aforesaid

lord commandant claimi~g the emba,rgoed stocko The 'expediente [for

this'case] was sent to the lord Baron [de RipperdaJ so that he might

18.

explain, with regard to this claim, the considerations which had sup-

ported his ruling .. In view of this, and ·the statements of the lord)

assessor; the lord commandant ordered the embargoed cattle returned to

Carlos Martfnez, even though they had been applied to the work of the.'

. church, because they were his and legally belonged to him. Thus, in

no way' did' these orejano cattle belong to the king, according to the

ruling and order of the lord commandant and of the lord assessor.

This fact is' evident· and true, ~d its consequence is undeniable.

10. Furthermore, in the same year of [17]74, a party of resi-

dents, under the leadership of Antonio Leal, set out with a permit

from the aforesaid senor governor to go to the other side of the Guad-

alupe River to s~aughter cattle. Neither for this slaughter nor for

the many others [which were made] did these [residents] or others pay'

any duties to the king, for the customary rea~on that, although those

cattle were so far from the locations of the pastures recognized by us

and by the missions, they still belonged to us without a doubt,, 12

because they had been produced by our stock.11 For [their activi-

'ties~', said Leal and those of his ,party, as well as ~guel d;e la Garza

and those of his party, who had also gone out at the same time in the

same direction with a similar permit and for the same purpose, were

[all] accused'of having carried out slaughters on this side of the

Guadalupe River among the orejano and prohibited cattle, as has been

s.tated.- They were arrested, tried, and f~ned the amount of eleven

pesos,' each. They. also appeared before ·the aforesaid commandant on the

afore-mentioned occasion. Having heard the arguments of the aforesaid

sefior governor and seen the opinion of 'the assessor, he issued similar

ord,ers that all [the cattle.] that had been taken away from them be

19

returned, along with the fines. Thus, we can justly infer once again

that the orejano cattle, according to the ruling of said lord comman­

dant and 'of the lord assessor, in'no way belonged, nor do belong, to

the king, 'but to us. This fact and this ruling have as living eyewit­

nesses all who were involved in the case', and the conclusion to be

drawn from'them is inescapable.

'11. Finally, in the above-mentioned year of [17]78, the afore­

said lord commandant g,eneral, in his bando published on January 11 of

that year, ordered that no one could go out, without the governor's

permission, to round up and kill orejano cattle //12v anywhere in the

territory' of this province and its 'borderlands. A legal copy of this

bando 'is' filed in our archives. Whoever went out with such a permit

to the places assigned to him was to pay four rCealeJs per head of

catt'le, and two [realesJ per horse, to the king. The aforesaid lord

Baron [de RipperdaJ, in a bando of which he sent authorized copies to

these surrounding missions and to the presidio of La Bahla, issued a

decree in which he explained that the aforesaid bando did not include

the orejano cattle in lit~gation between us and the missions. It

expressly stated to the ministers of these [missionsJ and the others,

that they must and were to send' their Indians and servants out two

',leagues beyond the Guadalupe River to get all the orej ana cattle pos-

s,lble and to' drive them onto their pastures It And if they went out t:o

slaughter [cattleJ, or to round up horses, it should be two leagues

beyond said river" it being understood that from that time forward,

they were to, pay the king four'r[eale]s for each horse they caught.

Thus, for 'the ,third time'we conclude that the orejano cattle, around

'this villa--found, on the pastures that have belo~ged to us for sixty

20

years In good faith--by a ruling of Governor Baron //13 de Riperda, in

no ~ay belo~ged to, the king, but to US.' Nor were they included in the

general clause cited from the 'banda of the afore-cited commandant.

The,se, three documents, these three, facts, and these three rulings are,~

,and will be, undeniable. Therefore, so are, and so will be, the con­

clusions· which we draw from them, and thus, they assure us better and

more firmly of our r,ights.. Therefore,: finally, Your Lordship, senor

governor, must, be completely aware of the l,egitimate, certain, and

Undoub~able justic'e of our cause, 'just from what we have argued [up to

now]. But we still have to offer the final point to this article.

12. The fifth and final of the points from the first article

which we are 'proving must rest, and we do ~est it, as we have stated,

on laws, both of Castile and of our own kingdom, which not only might

prove [but] do prove--clearly, distinctly" and finally, for now and for

the future--the well founded right to said cattle which we hold and

have held by inheritance 0 And in order that these laws might make the

justice of 'our cause to shine more brightly, we shall compare, con­

front, and expose them to the orders or decrees of this commandery.

Then may Your Lordship, or whoever, decide whether or not reason is

clearly on our side. 13. This commandery general, //13v in the

bando'published in this villa on January 11, [17J78, says, [in its]

first rule: UNo person', whatever ~ status, character, £!: condition,

may B.9.. out 'to chase, capture, .2!. kill orejano or mesteno cattle or

horses anywhere in this province and its borderlands, under penalty,

etc. tt r'r this rule from this banda (Which, if all the prerequisites

stipulated by the 'laws had been complied with, would have the force of

law) intends to include the orejano or mestefio cattle which have

21

grazed and do, ,graze on the lands which. we, our ancestors, and the

mi,ssions. of this [pres,idioJ and the' presidio of La Bahla, held and

:have ,and haire, held in rec.ognition and good faith for the past sixty

years, and' calls them mestenos for that reason--which should not be

so understood, nor have we ever accepted th,at understandi.ng·, nor have,

we ever understood it so, b.ecause it lacks a I.egal foundation o~ which

to rest-~we immediately counter it with. the following law, which is

the f'irst of the laws of Castile whi.ch deals with. mostrencada, and it

reads as f0l10ws: "Everything that is fotind in any manner [to ,be]

mostrenca [andJ unprotected must be'turned over to the authorities of

the' place 'or jurisdicti.on where it was :found.. It must· be kept for a

year and., i.f no owner appears., 'it 'must b.e turned over to ~ treas­

ury . ,; / /14 The contradictions between this law and the quoted passage

'from the afore-cited bando could not be greater or more clear, and we

believe that in every tribunal in this kingdom'and by every judge in.

,[those tribunals], we shall be and mU'st be administered the justice,

the reason, and the right1which we may have to said cattle, not

accordi~g to other laws, but to,the one cited [here] and others which.

we shall cite further on and which agree, with, this [law] on the same

matter. '

14. But, senor governor, while Your Lordship and every?ne is

consid~ring the [laws] which we have 'cited, also consider and examine-

carefully-~in all legal an~ non-l.egal ('documents. which may ,exist or be

found in these archives, and in those of the' commandery [generalJ ....-

whether the necessaryrequi.rements or conditions which the afore-cited"

law 8:0 r.ightly stipulates were fulfilled with. the publication of said

bando, ·that is,'whether these unmarked' and unbranded horses' and cattle

22

.which were produced from our [stock] and which graze on, our pastures,

and which were declared and advertised as wild, abandoned, and mos-

trenco., or appropriated, by 'persons still unknown to us, were so mani~

fested,to the judicial authorities of this place or of this province,

and if so, .,how and when. [Examine] whether [the cattle] were kept or

.placed in custody for one year until their legitimate owners might ap­

pear--if so, where and by whom--and if these did not appear, jj14v or

come forward, whether [the cattle] were correspondi~gly assigned to

the royal treasury. You will not ·find [in the documents] the slight-

est trace of any of these necessar.y formalities [which were-] so wisely

ord~red. Thus, [it follows that] the order, law, or regulation con-

tained in the afore-cited bando is n·ull., because it is contrary to

law, as we have seen and pointed out. If not, then let the commandery

gen~ral or its office· of assessor show us ·the right, law, or just

,agreement .upon which [their position] is founded, in order to silence

us and convince us of the int.egrity with which they have proceeded in

this matter, for the stick was made to drive the donkey, the spur to

m0ve the horse, the rod to teach and discipline the child, and laws

. and reason to convince man. Thus, the afore-cited law was violated,

along' with. all laws which support it. Natural law has been violated,

as well.as the office of justice" our r,ights, God, and the king, and

we have' been 'injured in 'our persons, our honor, and our property.

'Your Lords.hip will see muc~ more, and everyone will rec.ognize the

23,

or,der that ,anyone who may find something without ~ owner be obliged

.to place it' immediately in the hands and" custody of the alcalde of the '

"city 2!. .place within whose jurisdiction it was found, and that s~id

alcalde b.e obliged to place it in the custody of ~ reliable person or

,persons who will keep it publicly for ~ year and two months. He who

',thus found the mostrenco. or the ~,to ',whom it may belong through

, privilege, ~, and custom, should have it'~ proclaimed, on a market

day each month,~uring this period, ~ a public and, recognized crier

from't4e place where that thing~ f01llld. If, at the end of ~ year

,'and two months, the o~er of th.e thing [which was] found should appear,

, , it should be fr,eely returned to him, [tho,ugh] he should ~ the costs

which arose in its maintenance. And if that person (attention here)

,to whom the 'mostrenco belongs does not take the necessary steps, he

shall lose the right, which he has to the mostrenco." This law is most

clear, and we have not seen that its conditions have been fulfilled,

nor that thes'e cattle were advertised as is commanded in [this law].

But we have' followed it and taken every required step in order to have

[the cattle] returned to us, as we shall state further on. //15v

15. Therefore, now senor governor,' be so kind as to place on one

,side qf the scales of true justice, just 'these two afore-cited laws,

and on the other, the afore-cited text of said bando, along with rule

four of the' same, which'says the following: "I grant 'power to the

governor of the province to issue permits for going out to catch mes-

teno c-attle or horses, at designated times or seasons and at specified--places., upon payment, of six reales. for every horse and four trealesJ

for every .£.2!!. rourided~, The tund thus created in this 'activity [is

to be] deposited for ~ in a box with three locks, and~ of it may

Ji

24

be taken out ..Q!. spent until it ha.s been turned~ to the royal'

treasury, etc. tv At the same time, 'you will see, recognize, and com-

prehe'nd the j.ust weight of the two afore-cited laws--wherein the fail-

ure .to fulfill the conditions which they prescribe would daily mani-

fest our right--the violation [of those laws] and of our rights, as

well as the capriciousness, imprudence, and lack of foundation of the

two quoted sections from the aforesaid bando, and the gross injustice

of their publication. Upon reviewing what is stated in the afore-

cited 4th' rule, we cannot help but make a most just observation, which

we do not want to omit //16 or pass over in silence. Thus we offer it

[here] and beg Your Lordship to cast your eyes over it and, in recog-

.nition o·f it, to uphold· our rights. If the first rule of said banda

declares, generally and without qualification; that "No person may g£

out to catch mesteno cattle anywhere within this province," the 4th

[rule] restricts and modifie.s it, stating, If.!. grant power to the gov-

ernor'of the province to issue permits for going out to catch mesteno

cattle C••• ] at specified places, upon the payment of six r[eale]s for

every horse and .four [realesJ for every .£2!!. rounded ~' etc." It fol-

lows that, if the governors had always issued permits to the citizens

who asked for them and were entitled to them--to catch mesteno or ore-

jano cattle beyond the Guadalupe River and not on this side of said

·river,.on our lands and pastures and those of the missions, held in

. 'good title·· for the past sixty years--then we wO'uld never 'have faced

such an involved, quar.relsome, confused,. and prolonged suit. Conse~

quently,.we WOUld. not have faced such expenses, such disturbances,

such misunderstandings, such losses amo~g the citizenry, such damage

to the province, such desolation to its missions, so many presenta-

25

. tions of docunlent s, such' cl'amor among these inhabitant s and such a

·f100d //16v of.i11s. As the adage says, the one who is in the woods

is the ,one [who is] burned, and we shall say it more approprIately:

',the ones who have been in these woods are 'the ones who have burned

them. Thus" senor, governor,' here, within our very selves, are to be

found the'causes of our misfortune. Your Lordship can see more clear-

ly than the light of day that if the 'governors had not appropriated

'these cattle on our lands for the royal treasury, but had listened to

our many and repeated entreaties, expressed both orally and in writ-

ing, :we would not have suffered nor would we now suffer such travail

that two eyes are not enough to weep for them. But we shall dry [our

tears]' for ,now and content ourselves with the hope of a solution under.

Your Lordship's protection. If,that does not avail us on this occa-

sion, ,we believe our villa, today the capital of this province of Tex­

as, al'ong with its two presidios 'and six missions--which is all that

exists today~-will end up in the same way as did all the many other

settlements [established] in ito Because of the same failure to lis­

ten to'the complaints of their first settlers, and to maintain their

means of subsistence, we [now] weep as we see them--in disservice to

God, in disservice to the king ,and to our own 108s--//17 totally in

ruins.

l6., It can be seen that our afore-cited protests would have

aroused pity, and that our aforesaid misfortunes would 'have moved not

'only the hardest hearts, but the hardest stones, to pity, as indeed

, they did move the commander general when our laments reached his ears.

But we' did not protest.to [him] about the first extortions which the

afore-cited banda imposed upon us, or the first orders regarding the

26

. matter' issued by the seffor governor, Don Domingo Cabello, 'because some

among the citizenry and missions were negligent, others were divided,

and all were confused by the unexpected blow of having our property

suddenly taken from us. We did not know what to do, what policy or

attitude to adopt, nor where to break the chains of our subordination

and obedience in order to turn to the commandery [general] in such a

manner that our appeal would not appear [to beJ an insult and a rebel-

'lion against [Cabello'sJ actions. In ~his case, the afore-mentioned

Governor Don Domi~go Cabello--at his pleasure, of'course--made his

,r,eport [on th,e question of orejano cattle] to the commandery on Febru-

a:ry 12, [17 J79, as he himself informed us through his de,cree of Novem-

, 17vbe~' 10 of, [17J79, the first year of II his administration~ and in

other [decrees] in subsequent'years. These [decrees], and the replies

of the commandery, with their resultant accumulation of inconsisten-

c,i,es, might well have been prevented had [the authorities] only lis-

tened to our verbal petitions, had they seen to our rights, had they

supported us, sustained us, and left us alone in the peaceful enjoy-

ment of the ancient possession which we citizens and the missions have

had of the 'lands and cattle which exist on this side of the Guadalupe

,River, and [finally], if they had persisted in focusing their' entire

,attention in declaring and specifying as royal property all the cattle

arid lands on the other side of said river, issuing permits to those

lands 'only to those who had rights to them, and who would pay to the

,ki,ng the tax or duty fixed in the fourth rule of the afore-cited bando

for the horses and cattle which they ca~ght. But none of this was

done, 'God permitting it perhaps in order to test us through' suffering

and to strengthen us so that we should not abandon our province,

27 .'-

properties, missions, and families, so that we should not rashly take'

tthe .cattle] by force,. and finally, so that we should not shake off

our' yoke of humble obedience. Instead, the commandery, misinformed

and strongly urged //18 by said governor, heeded only the opinions of

the as'sessor~ dated October 30, [17J82., and November 5 of the same

year. He ordered us informed--as in fact~ we' were informed, by a ban-

do published on 'July 10, [17J~3-~of something for which we had never

asked nor dreamed of asking~ We were being given four months' freedomI.

to' round up and catch as many horses and cattle as we wanted anywhere

in th.is province, to mark and brand .~hem, and to put them to pasture,

without paying the king a thing for what ·we caught.'l\

But once this was

. /

done, and the four-month period had expired, any cattle which were

. found without marks or brands, even though they might be on our own

pastures, should be understood as belonging to the king. [When we]

consider this measure as a whole, without entering at this time into

the many other problems that ~t contains, [we see that] we received

. only parti.al justice through it, which we could in no way accept 41 Not

. only was [the order] published at a time when we could not take advan-

tage of it, as we 'shall discuss later, but it left us with an intoler-

able penalty, [in] that all those ca~tle and horses which, after' this

occasion or these roundups, were found unmarked and unbranded wi thin

. l8v' ,the aforesaid boundaries of our pastures--not just on II the open

fielqs,_ but wi.thin our very corrals-~should be held as belonging to

the.royal treasury. Such a pen~lty not' o~ly now but even more so in

the future', and with' the pass.ag~ of time, would be and is· .manifestly

the beg~nning of a multitude of problems. We would be dragged through

continuous incidents of fraud, and justice would. be in a constant

I"

28

uproar':, because judges could not place a sentinel or constable to

, watch over every cow or horse to keep a multitude of enemies from

stea~ing them. We would be ,most angered and most damaged when, [even]

with good,,'c'ause, permission ,were given 'to others who were ·not owners

of ranchos, ~r [evenJ if they were, to go and round up, catch, and

slaughter', or export [cattle] from our -pastures. [Furthermore] ,

we could never know precisely if the horses and cattle found in our

pastUres, wateri,ng-places, and corrals were amo,ng those which, for a

thousand 'reasons that lo~g experience has taught us, slip through our

fingers from the pastures, and from, the corrals, in stampedes at the

time' of brandi,ng, and thrb,ugh new incident,s which, can arise from the'

war [with the IndiansJ. Finally, [there are] 1/19 a million other

well founded reason's which, we shall omit, 'particularly [the fact] that

it is impossible'to sustain or combine, three cattle herds on the same

lands and in the same pastures, that is, royal cattle, cit,izens' cat-

tIe, and mission cattle. And if these two communities of residents

and missions cannot co-exist in complete harmony, as we have seen,

even when they have s,igned ,agreements that whatever each one finds in

his pastures without marks or brands will belong to [the finder], and, .

have,as,constant sentinels for the rest [of the cattle) every citizen,

mission Iridian, and servant" then let the senor governor, Your Lord-

s,hip, see, and let every sensible man c9nsider what would happen we're

the ki.ng t s, stock mixed in with our own.

17~ [Havi~g] set forth, these reasons at some length, because

they were necessary to the thread of our a!gument and defense, we now

turn our 'attention to the refutation of the afore-cited bando of 'July

10, [17].83. ',In it, in addition to what:we have indicated regarding

the fo1).r months which were., ,granted to us, ,without our asking for them

--in 'a ,totally despotic '[manner], without ,r.egard for the history of

'our rights , without consideration, for :the future, of the fatal

results which threaten our destruction, and without //19v attention to

the violati.on, on one side or another, of our municipal laws-....in what

we can term a treacherous volley, it is suggested and we are told the

follo\ii.ng in'the first article: "It is declared as ~ general rule, in

accord with the royal municipal laws ,of these kingdoms, that all kinds

,of horses and, cattle, mesteno and mostrenco, ~ incontrovertible

right~ belong to·the royal treasury of His Majesty." Pause a moment,

,senor'Governor Don Domingo Cabello, and deign to read the following

from our municipal [lawsJ. It is Spanish, it is in our hands every

day at every hour, and it is [number] 11 of title 5 of book 5 of our

Recopilacion Indiana, which states the following: "Any mostrenco

stock that has no owner is to be delivered to [the keeping of] honest

and substantial persons and advertised in the surrounding towns, and

if in ~ jurisdiction 2!:. another the owner is not verified, it is to

.8£. to our [royal J treasury." Or [consider] this one, at least, which

is [number] 6 of title 12 of'book 8 of the same Recopilacion, and

which states the following: "Mostrenco stock, whose owners do not

appear after the measures (here the attention.) required ~ the laws of

',our kingdoms of Castile have been taken', belong to our [royal] treas-

ury. It, ·Once [you] have c,omplied with what', [the laws] require, and if, "

the owners of these //20 mostrenco, mesteno,and orejano cattle do not

appear,,' then, [S'efior Cabelle', J publish your bando and claim it all for

the royal treasury. We could have seen no. greater audacity than that

of' presumi~lg to say, in the' face of th,ese definite laws', that "it is'

30

declared as a general rule, in accordance with the municipal laws,

etc e,'" With which [laws]? To none. But we made nothing of this; [be-

cause we, were] terrified, trembling, and intimidated by such unexpect~

ed, abort,iv.e, unforeseen, and outrageou~ orders .and bandos. We did

not have enough courage left even to breathe a word in formal [proce-

dureJ, nor the strength to represent ,our ,just cause, especially when

we presumed--and we were not mistaken--that we would not be heard by

the commandery and that we had no resources with which to seek 'justice

in 'other tribunals. We would suffer, along with our families, and the

expen'ses would be immense. Thus we did nothing but lament in the cor-

ners [of our rooms] and curse our-' wretched fortune, until we came to

our sens,es. Recovering from this blow, we began to breathe and to

speak in earnest, as we shall establish later. Now, senor governor,

will Your Lords.hip be so good as to place on the scales of justice,

fin~lly, the afore-cited text of the second banda, as well ,as the

//2Ovafore-cited laws, and weigh the justice which is ours, while we

conclude. We have shown with this fifth and final point the validity

of what we are asserting in the first article. Having clarified it in

every way with all the proofs which we have presented and stated:, we

shall, proceed, now to prove the truth o~ the' second~ [article] with an

equal" greater, or lesser number of arguments~

Regarding the proposition of the second article

18. [We] have' now set forth, senor governor, the well-founded,

accurate, and basic arguments, with which we have given the most con.-

vincing and,evident proof of' the propos~tion which we made ,in the

first ,article, and we have made plain to all the world the incontro-

vertible right which we have had and shal'l have in the future to the

31

horses and cattle' of this, our province of Texas, especially to those

which :are now grazing ~etween the Guadalupe River and this villa, a

dist'aIice of fifte'en leagues', on the often mentioned lands of our

villa, presidios, missions, and ranchos. We have freely and spontane-

ously relinquished and left to the royal treasury--in order to help

with the enormous expenditures which the king, our lord (may God keep

him), makes for the presidios and missions and the pacification of the

Indians of this province--all //21 the [cattle] which graze to the

north of said river and in other directions beyond the boundaries

described above. Our loyalty as good subjects and our appreciation

and love for our sovereign are the only reasons which move us to

r'elinquish,the l,egitimate right which we have to [those cattle] due to

their having come from our stock, for altho~gh they graze on royal

lands which we have never possessed or held to be our own, property

nonetheless demands its l,egitimate owner, wherever it may be, as nat-

,ural la~ teaches us. To give further clarity to the justice of our

cause, we shall present the most convincing, accurate, and evident

proofs, not only of the strayi,ng o,f said cattle from the pas:tures and

streams around our ranchos, villa, presidios, and missions, and also

of their dispersal throughout the 'outlying woods, rivers" streams, and'

plains of these environs, which we have held, recognized, and defended

as ours, as legiti~te owners of them for the past sixty years, as we

have said~-and we could say seventy [year~J, were we to be 'fair and

count, from the first settlement in this province, which was [estab­

lished] in the year [17J15, as ,was mentioned, and not from the year

.[l7]3l~·. when this town / llv became a villa--but also [proof regard-

ing] 'those [~att1eJ which were r~ght here for the commandery general,

32

fi~st, and then Governor Don Domingo Cabello, to wrench violently from

our'hands, ,without the\proper observance of the order prescribed in. '\ .

our laws.' ,The main reasons for [their dispersalJ--which were certain~

ly nO'fault of ours, as we shall demonstrate and point out in every

case--were,: [lJ the war with the'wild Indian tribes which surrounded

us at that, time and nave always surrounded us; [2J the disputes, liti-

gations, and misunderstandings that were never lacking between the

early' settlers and [the fact that] the disputes between ourselves and

the' nearby niis,sions, over territorial boundaries were bitter and pro-

, longed,. or interminable, but with. the difference that we residents and

the mission Indians alike were all l,egitimate holders of the lands and

of [the', r.ightJ to herd cattle on them; and [3J the continuous slaugh-

ter, [of stock] permitted to citizens entit'led, as well as unentitled,

to do it, ,thro,ugh which not only cows but :mares were fr.ightened

and scattered far beyond the surrounding pastures and environs //22 of

the villa, presidios, and missions. To' these [reasons] we can, and

do, add the false claim, made by the lord assessor of this commandery

general, that these cattle have grazed, .and do graze, on unoccupied

and unused royal lands, that they are'mestenos, mostrencos, or ore-

janos" without marks or brands, and that they have no rec~gnized

owners. Finally, as we shall demonstrate with indisputable facts,

there was the, personal interest" which the'previous governor; Don

Domi.ngo. Cabell·o, had in [the cattle].

~9. War, sir, has been the most powerful factor, and the princi-.

pal d·es.tructive [force] amo.ng all' nations of the world, [leading to]

the downfall· of all their mo~archies and to decadence, decrease,'and

scafcity in~'all their .agriculture, industry, and mining, as past

33

history has clearly t~ught us. For that [reason], the holy king

David, who was so experienced at war and who knew its many evils, pre-

ferred to fall into the hands of God--choosi~g the plague as punish-

ment for,' himself and his sub,jects~-rather than [endure] war ,at the

hands o,f men. Men, when they are bloodied, by war, tend to forget what'

they are and to lack pity even for themselves, while God is always

forgiving and quickly takes pity on //22v our suffering.

20:.' With this in mind, and returning to our main theme, there is

no doubt that war was the gravest single ,cause, as we intend to show,

of the escape or straying of our horses and cattle from the environs

of'. our villa , .. ~ presidio, mis,sions, ,and ranchos, and their dispersal,

\throughout the woods, rivers, and streams of our outlying lands.

Becaus.e the fi~st settlers,' their successors, and now we ourselves,

\to

in order to see to the defense of our towns and missions, were forced

to neglect 'our stock of one kind and another, we [managed] to keep

only ~he tame horses, at great effort, ~o use for military operations,

as is ,quite evident.

21.' From the afores.aid year of [17Jl'5 of this present century,

~til [17J27 or [17J28 of the same [centuryJ, there is no doubt that

the afore-named early settlers of t'his country, [as well as ] its mis-

sions and presidios, achieved what we ~ght term an Octavian peace

[paz octavianaJ. During this time, they could, and did, make pr,og-

ress, altho~gh they had introduced few horses and cattle into these

new settlements, keeping them in sight //23 near their settlements.

Since the peace was general amo~g all the [Indian] nations which lived

around this area, this in itself suggested and motivated the effort ~o~ .

prop,agate the' afore-mentioned ca~tle. And it also encour,aged attempts

34

to reduce [into the missions] the heathen Indians, who were numerous

'and of good character and who lived almost in the midst of the early

settlers, op the banks of this,; our San Antonio River, the Medina

River, Puertos de la Lomerla, and the Guadalupe River, as well as var­

ious other sites in this area. Thus, ~oved by a truly apostolic zeal,

the first priests b,egan to reduce [the Indians] under the gentle yoke

of our Christian law, and they were brought in to live in obedient

communities in these missions. The first nations involved in the

founding of our present missions were the Parpopas, Pastias, Mes­

quites, Pajalaches, Yujuanes, Pallayas, and others too numerous to

mention. At the urging of their ministers, and through the desire of

all men to .own [propertyJ, they devoted themselves to raiaing stock of

both of ,the aforesaid varieties, as well as all the other [varieties]

which are necessary to [sustain] human life and which local [condi­

tionsJ permitted, as is clear and known to everyone.

2'2. After the aforesaid year of [17J27 or [17J28, however, due

to the very abandonment of said lands in //23v this vicinity by the

afore-mentioned nations, who settled down to live in communities in or

near the missions--or for other reasons that God [aloneJ knows--the

warlike [Lip~n-]Apache nation began to infiltrate this country. Spar­

ing neither [ourJ lives nor [our] meager possessions, destroying all

as if [they w~reJ enemies of everything living, they threw themselves

repeatedly against our town and mission and soon created great fear

among our early set.tIers.' However, all rallied to defend the country,

for it was absolutely necessary for those first leaders and settlers

to excel in all the courage, the manly effort, and the military skill

[demanded] by the type of warfare ~aged by these enemies, in order to

, /f

35,

stop them. The regular troops were not sufficient, for, as has been

said, between the year [17]29 and [17J73, there were only 43 troops,

counti,ng the officers. Nor was it possible every time [to call upon]'

'auxiliary troops from the Nuebo Reyno de Leon and Coahuila for the

clashes which were, so frequent. The military commander, who also

exercised political command, enlisted from among the citizens more

than eighty veteran men who could [be spared] and who were experienced

at war, and, with the Indian warriors whom they could 1124take from

the missions, [heJ'not only checked the invasions of said enemies,

kept this town, its lands, and its surrounding missions in a state of

defense" fended off Indian attacks, prevented the deaths which they

migh~ cause, and took back the tame horses which [the LipanesJ had

stolen, but also ventured out with his scant number of military'forces

,--only somewhat increased by the settlers and by the Indians, who were

always greater in number--to seek out the Apaches on their own lands

and rancherias. Attacking with determination and .strength; they

killed them, destroyed them, routed them, and drove them off. They

conquered them and formed chains of prisoners. Where convenient, they

took' away their horses and whatever they had that was useful. They

burned 'their rancherias and tents, and.spared the lives only of those

captives who were likely to be converted to the faith, and the chil-

dren, whom they brought back to increase ,the missions and the villa.

They fought this ceaseless war for more than twenty years, just as

"those brave and invincible Goths defended themselves at an earlier

time against the Romans, as we are told by history, until--after the

flower of 'our ancestry had died in this glori'o.us war and in honorable

defense of the:nation and of the crown of 1124v Spain, and the blood

36

of marty others had spilled [from] wounds which we still see today

among those fortunate enough to escape with their lives--[the war]

ended 'in the year [17J48 or [17J49, and the entire [Lipan-Apache]

nation submitted to our will. [They made] a solid and lasting peace,

which was most advantageous and honorable for us, as the very dura­

tion, stability, and permanence of [the peace] for over forty years

will attest. This is a fact not only visible to all, but so wondrous

and enduring that we believe it to be unique. [They] further proved

the sincerity of their submission when more than eight hundred of them

settled with their families at the mission of San Antonio [de Valero],

and nearby, since there was not room [for them,allJ inside. Later,

one by one, they began to abandon [the missionJ for reasons unknown to

us. It 'is no wonder, nor are we surprised, that they have committed'

some thefts against us, which, doubtless has been due to the indolence

of later chiefs, who have neither held,them in check nor permitted us

to do so.

23. With the peace treaty with the Apaches, who [had been] con­

quered by our victorious arms and the force of [our] attacks in open

campaign, the province became calm, //25 quiet, and tranquil. The

settlers of the villa, presidios, and missions breathed [easily] and

,collected their weapons, anxious to develop their property and their

horse and cattle herds, which', because of the aforesaid war~-and

because they were forced to go off and fight--had been abandoned.

[Their cattle] had strayed away from the confines of their ranchos or

from the vicinity of this villa and the missions [and were] separated'

and dispersed, among' the woods, rivers, and streams of this area. [The

settlers were rec.ognized as their owners for the fifteen or sixteen

37

years this [peaceful] bonanza lasted, until the years [seventeen hun­

dred] sixty-four or sixty-five , ,when war 1Yit.h the nations of the

~orth" ,the 'Taguayas and the' Cumanch,es began. [They] turned to the

fields. with such indus-try that many times they had to throw the sur­

plus'~rom the past harvests into the streets in order to store the new

ones:, and nearly all of us. ,are eyewitness,es to that ablUldance and to

thes.,e. facts. They als.o turned to, catching the horses and cattle which

we're di.spersed and driven of,f by the war ~ ,They stocked their aban­

doned ranchos, and lUldertook such a successful propagation and

increas,e of b.oth. kinds [of cattl'eJ that all the ranchos of the citi- '

zerts and the missi,ons were stocked to the limit. There were resi­

dents., and not a felt, who owned / ;25v fOl,lr hundred breeding mares,

whi,le th,e mission of San FranCcisJco de la Espada ChadJ more than six

hundred burros, and so on for the other settlers and missions, accord­

ing to their greater or lesser care, dedicat'ion, and good luck. With

this abundance, tame horses became so ,cheap that they sold for six

p[esoJs, or even less, and cows [sold] for five p[eso]s, or less. \t,

Finally, consonant with the peace that was enjoyed in this province,

our vil'la grew considerably, amounting, in the aforesaid year of

[17J64, to more than two hundred families and close to a thousand

inhabitants~ counting the 'children.

24. ' ,Nonetheless, whether it was because of our sins, 'to which'we'

,must, and do, confess, or because God so willed it in his just wisdom;

thi.s. b<;>nan'za, [of peaceJ disappeared' and ended' for us, and ri.th itC's

lossJ,' all "of ,our bless.i~gs and jQYs came crashi,ng down. 'The'War with

the Cumanches.' and' T.aguayaze's,·, b,eg,an i,n t'he' 'aforesaid year of [seven­

teen] sixty-four' or sixty-five" and si,nce this [war] lasted unti.l the

38

year [17]85, almost another twenty years" here was a second cause of

the unavoidable abandonment of our cattle and of their separation and

dispersal. Since there were more of them, //26 it was harder to con-

tain them within the confines of 'the pastures or near the villa, pre-

~idios, and missions. But this villa, which almost at this same time

became the capital of this province of Texas, [also] became the resi-

dence of the governors of [the provinceJ. We should have been able to

expect, as we did expect, such high authorities to make the necessary

provisions for our subsistence and greater. increase--since ,for that

rea80n only were they sent by our sovereign--and to furnish the high-

. est milita~y expertise, which they should possess by their [militaryJ

profes.s.ion'. They should have brought us major blessi,ngs by containing

our new enemies with all the force of their arms, and be setting forth

on campaigns to find them and attack them, at their own rancherias and

either kill, destroy, and annihilate t~e~, or force them to seek

peace, for they 'had a larger number of trained troops, as is well

known, and more citizens from which to draw, than when, if not for our

own honor and reputation, at least for our property, we would have vol-

unteered, and did in fact volunteer, to sacr.ifice ourselves in the

defense of ,the fatherland. [But,] everytning turned out quite the '~l '

opposite, as everyone knows. We were continually engaged in scouting

patrols of little or no use,·[andJ for this reason, and //26v because

, of the' unceasi:llg hostilities of .said nations, and :in order to sa've our

lives, we were obliged to totally abandon our horses and cattle, leav-,

ing them untended and our ranchos unprot.ected. This led the Indians

to steal the majority of the' [cattle] which, they found unguarded, or

to run them 'off or kill them alo,ng with their owners.' [The stock]

39

that escaped, either horses or cattle"scattered ~nd wandered away

into ,the woods in the vicinity. These, misfortunes' and many others

which rained down upon ,us then--which ~e shall not" discuss at this

time-~forced us to abandon not only our stock, but even our fields,

and we' might have abandoned our country, too, were' it not that our

love of [countryJ, our loyalty as good subjects, and the clamor of

our. families and kin weighed more heavily in our estimation to keep

us he're, t.han did the aforesaid misfortunes and t~~ misconduct of

our commanders to make us leave CD ,Thus, we were swept along by calam-

ities for a period of twenty long years, which quite understandably

seemed' to us to be twenty centuries. During this prolonged calamity,

'we saw with 'our own eyes the deaths of more than a hundred men--our

, 27own fathers, our own brothers, and II our most beloved and capable

sons, 'compatriots, neighbors, and companions--until God, out of His

own goodness, or perhaps moved by the cries, laments, and clamors of

so many suffering widows and wretched little orphans, or by the pray-

'ers of'the faithful, brought [us] peace with the Cumanche nation, in

an unexpected and near miraculous way, in the afore-cited year of

[17J85. Although this [peace] was brok~n, as was the peace with the

Taguayazes, Taguacanes, ,and Guichitas, toward the end of [17J86, due

to anothe~ rare and. unexpected occurence, peace was restored at the

beginnin,g of'~·this, [year], and the coast'al Indians were brought under

'control',. We thanked God for this bless,ing, however he had bestowed it

upon IUS., But, behold now that, when we were able to re-establish our­

selves,freely on our ranchos and collect all of our scattered s~ock,

we, faced, and had already been facing, a still greater enemy, in,the

person of the senor governor, Don Domingo Cabello. Regarding only the

first "provlsion of the. bando, issued by the lord commandant general on

if

40

January 11, 1778, and not the fourth [provision] thereof, [Cabello]

issued his first orders that, when we collected the stock, we were not

to claim, under any circumstances, the orejano or unbranded [cattle],

" " " 27v"since they belonged to the royal treasury. II He issued permits

[to anyone] to go out and slaughter stock"wherever they wished. He

also issued permits to round up, catch, and bring in stock to sell in'

this villa, including [stock from] within the boundaries of our pas-

tures, and finally, he declared all of our stray stock to be royal

stock". He published bandos, issued repeated orders, and up,held them

with fines and punishment. Thus, if our situation was lamentable

throughout the time of the war, it was even more so with the onset of

peace", for when we opened our eyes, we found ourselves without our

horses" and" cattle. Some [had been] stolen, others killed by the

enemy, run off, sold, or declared royal property. [We were] poor,

hungry, "naked, and in debt, after having shouldered the heaviest bur-

den or"a protracted war, but it was not just that which broke our man-

ly~ spirits, because, for ourselves, we could suffer greater calamities

and bear th"em. We opened our eyes "and saw the miserable state into

which so many widows and orphans had f~llen, and we turned our ears to

hear their laJnents, for, after" the missions were left without Ind:rans,

the widows without husbands, and the orphans without fathers or broth­

28ers, "II they all ended up being stripped of their property. The

"lord assessor clearly ignored this [fact] when he had the temerity to

say, in his decree of November 5, [17]82, that although they might

have !:. right to the stock, they oUght to renounce it. [That was] such

a terrible way to speak and" such a terrible decree to make, that were

we not" followi~g and readi~g it step by step'to our growing amazement,

,i-I

41

we could only think that it came from a heart with no love for human

society and for its flourishi~g. It was a heavy pronouncement, as if

to say to the' residents of Bexar" "r am telling you all, after you

have, s.ustained for twenty years at your own sacrifice, a ceaseless and

bitter war that no ·power, however stro~g it might be, can sustain for

so lo~g, [and after you have] lost so many of your compatriots and,

alo~g. Wi.th.. thein,. all YO.ur property, you are now to be forced to give

up what few of your [cattle] may have remained, dispersed throughout

the countryside', ill' cows and h.orses, and you must cede them to the

ki~g.· You, your widows, your orphans, your missions, and .your Indians

must remain in your misfortune an~ raise new herds if you wish to have·

them.". This is doubtless /;28v what he meant to say or to have under-

stood, to 'ju~ge from his words quoted [aboveJ. These, senor governor,

are not i.In:agiili.ngs: but realities, ab,out which. we could speak at length

and expand. greatly, for not in four fi.ngers' [thickness] of paper

could.we·relate all the hardships we have experienced in these past

twenty years of warfare .. If we suffered during those other twenty

years, when [that warJ ~as over, [at leastJ we had the .consolation

of being in possession of our. stock, free to raise and breed them, as

we did ~, But now, we find ourselves. deprived of them. With. this , it

s,eems .. that ,we have concluded, however diffusely, th,e first point of

,the propos·it.ion of t.he second article, and h.ave set forth t'he evidence

of the first reason why, thro~gh. no fault of our .own, we were dispos~

sessed of the horses and cattle which we claimed.

25. The.second point of the' second proposition, or of the propo-

siti.on of the second arti.cle,· wi,th. whlch·. we intend to prove and shall

prove. our .·r,ights.··to .said cattle, i.s and: will b,e the second' reason

42

which, added to that of, the war, operated from the b,eginni.ng of these

settlements and finally, in thes,e past' few years, produced the most

'fatal result, or monstrosity, of deprivi~g us of our stock. In ill­

29considered' haste, the commandery general II .[undertookJ to sieze

from out ,of our hands what was the beginni~g of many prolonged and

bitter disputes, so much fraud and animosity, and such. constant

appeals between the citizens and missions. We defended as ours the

hors~s and cattle that, duri~g the last war and our disturbances since

the year [17J64--because' priQr to this 'time no mesteno cattle had ever

been seen in the entire vicinity of this villa--had begun ,to run away

or to stray from the'outlyi~g lands of our ranchos and from around the

villa, ,dispersing into the woods beyond, and alo~g the trails and pas~

tures. which. have been rec,ognized as ours since this settlement was

'first founded, .and on which. we had a, great number of breedi,ng stock.

The mis.sions did the same, and defended the stock as their, own with

equal ,justification. The afore-mentioned commandery general, as we

have sai'd, ,took advant,age of this onset of ,disputes in what was really'

nothi~g more than a pretense of administeri~g justice. Although. we

citizens were disputi?g with the missions who should be preferred, or

who had the best title to the 'orejano cattle, or to those unmarked and'

~branded'ones which were found on the pastures of one [side~ or the

other,all these / j29v litigations and appeals became Just words. It

'was not onl'y that weak factor whi.ch ope~ated .against the development

and prop.agation of said cattle, but also' the' fact that each. one wanted

~ greater extension of pasture lands for the spread and amplification

of hi.s herds. This was the·principle comnion to so many disputes, be-

cause ;the mi.ss.ions, looki.ng Qut for' thelr newly converted Indians--the

43

.lat~,.e! .b~i!1g [further] protected by the king thro.Hgh hi s many laws

',CpassedJ for that purpose-~so~ght to e~end and e~pand their cattle:~.

and :crop: lands over all those places, fields, and ::~treams where they

saw fit. The first settlers and their descendants', based on their

just '~laims as pacifiers of these l~nds, sought a ~imilar expansion

. over· the s.ame territory. This dispute grew until~it set the [Canary]

Islanders, the settlers and founder,s o~ thts villa',' .against the cre-

oles who were the first explorers and conquerors of these lands .

. ,[This was] a, .grievous calamity on top of so many c:alamities. Since

neither' the citizens amo~g themselves, 'nor they and the missions could

agree to settle their differences--as, tiri,ng of Iit,igation, we have

'finally' done in this present year of [17J87, at- the meeti~gs which the

mis,si'onary ministers. and their pres.ident, this ayuntamiento, and the

representatives of //30 the villa, Don Macario Sambrano and Don Juan

·Flores" .held in Your Lordship.' s presence on January 8 and March. 20,

·'where·we legally committed ourselves to cede to one anoth~r as many

dispu~ed lands as possible, as, we could have done at the beginning of

.these· ~ettlements--these di.sputes, conti.nued to. grow until these

repeated, cumbersome, and costly appeals 'were carried to the command-. ,

"'ery g;eneral of this New Spain. That was the cause, or the tr.agic ori.-

'gin, .of the deterioration, s~tbacks, and losses in the pro~agation and

growth.: of these herds, which are not. scattered throughout t'he vast

. ,woods' of this entire province, nor are they as numerous as this com-

mand~r~ has thought.

!, 26 ~ We do not say this, senor governor, as if shooting an arrow

into the air, nor' [do "We say~ that· this,' c,ause--which, naturally

.impel~ed b.oth part.ies, and almost every?ne" to n.eglect their property,

44

to .come and devote themselves to the proper defense of their jUBt and

well founded rights as each [of themJ saw fit--can be blamed on either

party." Nor is it purely imaginary, or stated or referred by us with-e

out legal. foundations. [There isJ the appeal made by this citizenry

to the afores,aid captaincy, general in the year [17J45, and the expedi­

ente of the //3Ov lord Marquez de Altamira, then the king's attorney

in Mexico City, and his order to the governor of this province to

bring us together to settle our disput~s,. [issuedJ in the same year

.and filed in the ar~hives of this. government, to which we refer; the

appeals also made by this villa through its representative and algua-

cil mayor, Don Vizente. Alvarez Trabieso, to the aforesaid captaincy

[gener~l] in the year [17J56, one ·with regard to land and another with

regard to water, both of which involved considerable expense; the com-

mission r.egardi.ng the same matter conferred upon the interim governor

of this.province, Don Hugo Oconor in .the ·year [17J68, which had 'no

.effect, and ·his order to give up the ranchos [in disputeJ; the memor-

ial addressed to Captain Don Luis Antonio. Menchaca in the year [17J69.

by this ayuntamiento in order that he might forward to the said cap~

taincy general our protest r.egarding the miserable ·conditions to which

these continuous disputes had reduced these communities, and so that

[Menchaca] might beg for a remedy for so many evils and the country

would not be 'abandoned; and finally, the appeal made in the year

[17]72 to .the afore-mentioned captaincy [general] by this villa

through its representatives, / /31 Don FranCcisJco Xavier Rodrfguez and

Don Felis Menchaca. [From these] and from many other [appealsJ made

with regard to other [matters] as well as this matter of land boundar-

ies, it can be clearly seen, and Your Lordship will perceive, how the

,stock raisers were forced to abandon, and did abandon, their herds of

horses and cattle while they, defended their rights. CTheir cattle]

,s'cat.tered 'among the woods in this vicinity. and went without branding

or marki~g for three or four years, until [their owners] returned.

When they attempted to bring [the cattle] in to the lands of their

,ranch9S, they were unable -to do so, either because the cattle were too

wild, Or because a thousand other obstacles arose. Since this was not

due to 'any fault of ours, there is no reason at all to declare [the

'stock] ,to be royal property, for, 'although they may be orejanos; we

are, here as their recognized owners.

2'7. We enter now ,into the third cause that deprived us and

seized from our hands these afore-mentioned cattle, [but] not the

legitimate right to them which we have had and do have presently, as

will be palpably cle'ar from what we note and cite with r,egard to [this

causeJ. This one consists of the many and repeated slaughters and

roundups that we made of both kinds [of stock] on our own ranchos, not

for our enj'oyment, but in ;order to', catch the horses to break them

3lv/ / and the cows to get meat, tallow, and butter. With these, we

would seek to obtain, either here or elsewhere, clothing for ourselves

-and for our families. In order to catch them for'such absolute neces-'

sities;~ it was necessary to ch~se them, which frightened, them and

drove them away from the confines of our ranchos. With a part, though

not all, of them runni~g loose among the various woods, rivers, and

,streams, they'i~creased and multiplied alone, wild, an~ free, until we

were provided with a way, or means, of returning them all to our

ranchos, and of brandi,ng and herdi~g them. We shall elaborate on this

cause and its' circ~stances so that Your Lordship may understand it

, '

46

thoro,ughly.

28. It is well known that ·duri.ng the flourishing period of the

peace formed with the [Lipan-JApache nation, from the afore-cited year

of [17J49 until [17J64, when war broke out with the Nations of the

North, we raised horses and cattle in abundance, as we have said. We

now believe that we would have raised many more, had not our disputes

andl'thes.e repeated sla,ughters intervened to distu'rb [this work] as

much. as they did. But we have not had, nor do we have, ;;32 other

\l.

forms of wealth or resources than these cattle, and their products,

with. whi.ch to pay our debts and acquire everything indispensable to

carryi!lg on human life and satis.fyi.ng its needs 0 Duri.ng that time, up

to the ·year [17J74, and after, we did not see fit to export herds of

these cattle on foot to the neighboripg provinces, nor would their

products have brought to us any profit there. [For thisJ and other

reas.ons, we were obliged to sla.ughter them, as we did, to dry their

meat, to collect and prepare their lard and tallow, and carry [these

productsJ to where we could get the mos.t for their sale. [ThereforeJ,

thi.s caus.e was forced upon us inevitably. It, along with the others

we have mentioned, about the war and our disputes, produced the disas-

trous ·effect. Our cattle, frightened off from the confines of our

ranchos, strayed and scattered thro~ghout the woods, rivers, and

streams nearby. Altho~gh we have not unburdened ourselves of every-

thi~g that we could say regarding this third cause of the straying of

our cattle; because we shall leave it for another, more opportune, time'

d - //32v h 11 t f -I t dd h th f than occaslon, we s a no al 0 a ere ree ur er causes

whic:h, b.ei,ng likewise b.eyond 011r control, caused the cattle to stray

from our ranchos. These were the many dro~ghts, and snow and ice

, '

i, 1

),

47, , ,

. ....

storttts"which ,caused the cattle to leave in search of shelter and pas-

ttir,age';"; the', grass ,fire's which, caused siini'lar or greater' da~age; and, ,

,the'i,ntroduction of the' ki~g's h,orse herds. To find better pastures

for [the' herds] or to defend or hide them from the enemy, it was

ne'cessary to, put them in the' midst of our ranchos ~ Not only did ,this

denude the land of its. grass and Cus.e up] the water, because of the

number of cattle', and fr,ighten <:?ff other cattle, but the guards--who

duri~g the'war usually' totalled up to thirty men--acting upon their

'knowle,dge that any unmarked, unbranded cattle found anywhere belo,nged'

,to, the king, accordi,ng to' the' afore-cited banda' of January II" [l,7J78,

or perhaps even without [that knowledgeJ; caught and slaughtered as

,many as they, could. The.y ,possibly killed branded stock with'recog-

nized owners'as well. For many months, they caused us unheard-of

destruction~ setbacks, deterioration, and irreparable losses. //33

We complained about this evil repeatedly, both orally and in writing,

to no avail, as everyone knows. The da~age was even greater in the

environs, or egidos, of this villa, where the horse herds graze most

frequently. Where the community [onceJ had fifteen hundred head of

domestic' breeding stock in these e.nvirons, as could be seen from the

roundups and branding in previous years, when it ,was glorious to look

~pon those,' fields, this ye.ar, at the roundup and branding, [the stock]

,did not reach three hundred [headJ. We are pleased that Your Lordship

has provided the solution to this problem, as is evident in the certi-

fication "whi.ch 'we furnished,'~ to, you on August 28, of this present year,

and with whi.ch. we shed further l,ight on wh,at we have said up to now

,r.egardi~g the', caus,es of the' dispossession and straying of our cattle.

29.' The' fourth, cause' which tore' from our grasp these cattle

/

48

whi.ch we' de.fend--our only patrimony, the only inheritance from our

ancestora, the' only wealth left to:us by' our elders, the only

resource with. which to pay our debts and obtain necessities, and the

o~ly s'ubsistence for ourselves and for our nation--and which we must

add to the three already mentioned--the' extended wars, the welter of

di,s.putes" and ,the inexcusable s.la,ughters--al0!lg with everythi,ng else

. we. have set forth, consists of the decrees of this commandery / /33v

general, 'o,r of its office of as·ses,s.or. Through them, we were

deprived, without' prior nati,ce'" citati.on, or protest from [a'nyJ party

~-in which we could call a treacherous 'volley--of this stock, which we

"as well as, our forebears- acquired, rais.ed, increased, and defended

..agains,t a thousand' enemies, at the cost of great anguish. Said

decree·s were bas.ed solely on the 'material a,rgument that these cattle.

are mostrencos, have no re.cognized owners, and were born and raised 2!!.

unused ,royal lands. They have no other fo~dation or supporting laws,

'as is plainly evident from the bando of January 11, [17J78, document

number l.of those which we are keeping in our archives for our defense

in this matter. It says the following: IVAnd whereas the lack of

(

application to ,agriculture, arts, and industry is also due to the

, unquestioned right :2z. which everyone ~ to now has believed himself

authorized to ,g£ out and build corrals, 'or stockades, and round ~'

pen ,. and' c~tch mesteno and orejano cat~le'and horses--which have

d~mini,shed considerably b,ecause of the exces.ses which. have been com-

. 34mitte.d-~~ since both types [of cattle] belong' to the royal / /

treasury pf Hi.s Majesty, (here the' attention) being mostrencos and

without 're'cognized owner·s and having been born and raised 2!!. his royal,

llIluse,d lands', and in order' to' prevent their destruction, !. order, etc. n

.~.

Behold here the first· blow and the first ruli.ng which we suffered at

the hands of the commandery [general] in this matter of such grave and

vita.l importance. Thus, senor. governor, on the sole basis of these

three 'material arguments--[that the cattle are] mostrencos, without

recognized owners, and raised on royal lands--by a ruling of the com-

mandery general, th.ese cattle went to the royal treasury , without dis-

cus,sion of any othe.r support or laws to' uphold [this decision].

Speaking with due. respect, these were fatal a!guments, unsupported by

law, for we can find no more truthful or moderate explanations for

this' denial of our [rightsJ. We swear before God that we love and

res.pect our superiors, and' respect their orders, an'd since we know

that we have the r,ight to contest their actions and commands which are

prejudicial to us, we are here contesti~g this one, which hurts us so

much.. In·order that Your Lordship, and everyone, may see how justifi-

ably we resist it, please give us. your further attention and hear us.'

With that expectation, we continue===30.. If this bando refers j j34v

directly and specifically to the horses and cattle which graze on the

far side or the Guadalupe River, and which we now have ceded voluntar-

ily to the royal treasury, it still should have been, and should be,.' L

held by every tribunal as null and void,: as we hold, and have held it

to be,' ~o~",two very strong reasons of laws. First, our laws regarding

stray cattl~ we·re not considered or followed in its preparation and

publication " or. in declari,ng [the cattle] to be mostrencos and belong-·

i:ng to .the', ,royal treas,ury. As we have already referred to and quoted

.them, [these laws'] expressly order that the req-q.irements be fulfilled, ,

. ,

[wherebyJ these cattle are advertised·f0r a year and two months in the.. .

place where ,-:they ~ere found, 'and in nearby cities. " until their owners

..' Ir

50

should appear. Otherwise, they go to the royal treasury. Second,

everything done counter to the law is, and should be, held as void,

especially since only the ki~g, as maker of the laws--and no other

tribunal nor the connnandery ,CgeneralJ--ha,s, or ever will have, the

power or authority to set asi,de without good cause the most just laws

applying to strays which we have already cited //35 and to which we. \

referred in the fifth and final point of the proposition of the first

article. [These laws] are numbers 1 and 7 of title 13 of book 6 of

'tt

the [laws.]. of Castile, and number 11 of title 5 of .book 5 and number 6.

of title 12.of book 8 of our Recopilaci6n Indiana, along with many

oth~rs which support them, but wh~ch we omit. Nor [do they have the

'authority] to trample our natural. rights as raisers, protectors, and

breeders. of those cattle, as discoverers and conquerors of these

lands,. as humble and loyal subjects, as defenders of this frontier at

our own cost, as honorable and good citizens, and as noble and privi-

l,eged' sJ~ttlers. For all these reasons and for ,those stated in the

laws we have mentioned, we should have been summoned and beard before

the ,commandery took'any action in the matter~ This was clearly'recog-

nized by the senor Bar6n de Ripperda, then governor of this province

for, ·after· the publication of said. bando duri.ng his administration, he

issued permits only to those.citizens who were entitled to them, to go

two le:ague.s beyond the said Guad~lupe River to catch, sla,ughter, and'

b.:ri~g 'in orejano cattle. We do· not attest this with the dead and the

absent, but with.. 'citizens current}.y living in our villa, such as

Miguel de la Garza and all of his men, and other //35v parties and

thei.r· leaders,' who went many times in that same direction for the same

purpoS.e, .payi.ng four r[eale ]8 for ~very ,head of cattle and six

the fi.rst article of this memorial .

51\

[realesJ for every horse.. We never opposed or hindered this, although

thos.e cattl'e were ours as well, havi.ng come from our stock, and we had

not ceded them to the ki~g as we have no~ done. We kept silent and

l'et them go without protest-"':it being felt that the aforesaid banda

was null ..for· the reas.ons mentioned [above J--as long as our cattle

·grazi,ng on· ,this side of said river were not affected, as, in fact,

they were.hot during the administration of the aforesaid Baron [de

RipperdaJ. .Neither before nor after said bando did he ever issue a

permit to any resident or to the missions to catch orejano and

··unbranded cattle on this side of. the river. He severely punished

those who did so, even tho~gh they had good reason to believe they'

were catchi~g what was theirs .. Thus, as ~ result of the complaints of

those, who had been.punished, the commandery, on its general vizita,

ordered that what had been taken away be restored to them, along with

the fines, as we'have said in the third point of the proposition of

The//36 afore-cited Bar6n had

. three strong and natural reasons, b~th. before and after the publica-

tion of the afore-cited bando, to prohibit the catching'of orejano

and unbranded' stock on this side of said Guadalupe Rivero First,

there was a dispute pending, although only verbally, between ourselves

and the missions regarding who had more r.ight to all the orejano cat-

tIe, because neither "side wished ta split the difference. Second,

[the cattle J were, grazing on both parties' lands, which had been

rec.ognized and held in, good faith for the last sixty years. Third,

since the cattle came from our stock, they had recognized, though con-

fli.cti.ng, owners. Altho,ugh. we have a,rgued these three reasons in part

in the previous points, we have stated and a!gued them once again,

52

because we feel they are valid support for our rights.r'

'31. And if the afore-cited banda speaks not only of the unmarked

and unbranded cattle which graze on the other side of the aforesaid.

Guadalupe River-~which naturally seems to be [the case] and is the

. bes,t int.erpretation of i t--but als,a directly, absolutely, and without

exception, of all the stock, likewise unmarked and unbranded~ that

. grazes on this side of said river--evenin the middle j j36v of our

ranchos and aroun'd our villa '. presidios, and missions, as the previous

governor, Don Domingo Cabello', tried to interpret. it--then not only is

the' \b.ando null, as we have just proven, because it was not prepared or

published· acco.rding to the laws which we have cited, but it is also

intrinsically and abs.olutely false in its ·three material a,rguments ,~tt_

which. have no I,egal foundation, that they are mostrencos, that they

have no rec~gnized owners, and that they were raised on royal lands.

These do not even have the appearance of' truth, for it is false that

they are mostrencos, it is false that they have no recognized owners,

and it is fals.e that th.ey. were ·raised on" :royal pastures. We say that

all of this is false, because it really iso If not, ·then let· the lord

assesaor of this commandery: general prove to us that it is not, that

is..,, that. these three propositions, or a.rguments, are not fals·e. Let

hiDl: give us a c'onclusive demonstration of their truth. Let him con-

vince ··us and make us see their justice, and not speak merely in pom-

pOUS and'~igh-soundi~g words. But he will never prove it to us, nor

would Ari'stotle prove it to u~, ·not· from' a lack of wisdom but from a

lack of even the appearance of tr~th. in these three propositions. On

. the contrary, we shall conclusively demonstrate their falsity, j /37 as

will be aeen. in,the followipg lines~ There is no doubt that by

l',j

53

uncoveri~g 'this truth, which has been obscured and confused these past

eight'years by this and subsequent bandos, by revealing its total

,nature to everyone, by thoroughly destroying and refuting the three

) aforesaid argument s, by smashing these three false principles, by

blasti~g these three fantasies, and by demonstrating the truth of our

r,ights with this first step [toward] our happiness, our triumph, and

oux'vi.ctory--in addition to [the fact] that we have thoroughly demon-

strated it in everythi~g we have stated in this memorial--here, we

shall make it clearer than dayl,ight, if that is possible.

32~ The bando says the [cattle] are mostrencos; we say they are

not, and we shall prove our position, since the bando fails to prove

its own tclaimsJ. The wild beasts of the field, such as lions, tigers,

, and others,which are useless to the needs of human life, as well as

java~inas, bears, buffaloes, and other animals from various other

r,egi~ns and provinces, which are useful and helpful to that same

[human] life, are not, and never wil~ be, mostrenco animals, because{

statutory law has never called them by that name, and natural law, or

the law of the nations, has granted the privilege and / /37v free right

tO,the bold and astute hunter, whoever he may be, to pursue, wound, or

trap them, and tame them or kill, them so as to make use of their meat'

or ,their fur. On the contrary, that same statutory law has seen fit

to term, and doe,s' term, as simmarrones.,' or mostrencos, all those ani-

mals whi.ch have s'erved or do. serve the needs of rational human life--

such as h.orses, cattle" goats, sheep, etc., whether tame or wild--and

whiph, through,the inexcusable laziness or n~glect of their owners,

were totally abandoned or were left derelict in the fields and woods

to roam 'and propagate. freely. [Such 'stock] could be, granted

j

f'I

charitably,to ,serve the public welfare of the subjects, wherein the

king could give them the right to catch' ~d take possession of [the

animals], as was done by the lord attorney Valcalzer in the year

[17J53,· in document number 10, with the cattle which had become wild

. through the inexcusable laziness of their original owners at the mis-

sien near the presidio of San Juan Bautista del Rl0grande. Or [the

stock] could go 'to the royal treasury, if, after they have been adver-

tised as stipulated by our laws regarding strays, their rightful own-

ers do' not appear, [that is], unless they have left or abandoned them

f . //38. · hor some other valld reasons, as happened and as we ave proved

in the present case. Having recorded these indispensable facts to

give a clear understandi~g of the essence of the term mostrenco, we

shall' state and prove our assertion in this way.

33~ Mostrencos are those cattle which, thro~gh the neglect of

their- legitimat'e owners, were left or abandoned by them as derelicts

to breed and propagate in the woods accordi~g to their natural inclin-

ation. ·Accordingly, we have-not thro~gh laziness, negligence, or any

other fault of our own, abandoned these cattle and horses or left them

derelict~ Nor did our ancestors, except during the inevitable clashes

of a bitter·war. Instead, they, and we, raised them; they defended

them and· we have defended them; they sacrificed their lives and those

of their sons, and we [sacrificed] our brothers~ our servants, and our

fellow c.itizens, and risked our own [lives] at every turn [to protect

th.emJ •.. Th.erefore, these catt·le are not ,mostrencos. Th1S argument is

further stre~gthened and supported by asking, as we do ask, if neither

our ancestors .nor ourselves have had any other wealth or resource with

which'· to maintain ourselves, or our families, than what we derived

55·

from these cattle, how it was possible //38v for [our ancestors] or

ouraelves. to abandon [the' cattle] ·or to' leave them derelict. They

had, and we have also had, th.e cour.age and strength to defend [our­

s,elves]. and to sustain, first, a tYTenty-year war and then another one

of twenty years , with our enemies forcing us to live day and ni.ght

with. weapon ,in hand .. This is born out by the decrees of senor Oconar

in [17]69; orderi~g us to leave our ranchos, of the senor Baron [de

RipperdaJ in [17J71', orderi.ng us to. return to [the ranchosJ, and of

s,enor Cabello in [17J82, orderi..ng us to proceed with the branding,

"considering, n it says, nth.at' it has been delayed because, during the

past two months. of November' and December, the enemy has kept us con­

stantly under arms. if Would we [thenJ be lazy or n.egligent or lack the

wi.lli,ngnes,s. a'fter the wars, or at leas,t in the intervals between them,

to go take care of our herds, locate as-'many of the strays as possi­

ble"an~ get them back on our ranchos~ And if our fathers, sons,

.br9thers·, servants, and fel·10w· citizens- sacrificed themselves, and we

shed our own blood in defense of the fatherland, why [would we] not do

S,0 in defense of our property? Thus , in no / /39 way did our ancestors

abandon the cattle, nor have we left them as derelicts thro~gh neglect

or for any other culpab,le reason. Therefore, they are not mostrencos.

Eno,ugh s.aid.

34. They do not have rec,ognized owners, states the banda. How,

so? They have, we say, and h.ere we are, their legitimate and certain,

owners 1/ [We ~] the i.nh.abitants, of the villa of San Fernando and the

.pres,idios of Bexar and Bah!,a, plus the Indians of these ~issions, are ~

have b,een', and always, shall be the openly rec,ognized owners of the

cattle arid hors,es. found on th.e pastures between here and the Guadalupe'·

56

River, which we have passed i~ good faith for the past sixty or

seventy years. In the' first place, we all now proclaim--as one

,'[voice], indistinct; uniform, and collective; Spaniards, and mission

, Indi.ans" cabildo,' jus,ticia, y.- reximiento, and reverend padre ministers

of these six missions; at times extrajudicially, at others judicially,

and now wi.tho.ut distinction of person, cat,egory, or sex, including

. women and children--a thousand times and a hundred thousand times our

certainty that [thes,e cattl'eJ are, have b.een, and will be burs, and

not the ki~g's, as one or two individuals lacki~g experience or know-

le,dge i.n this matter have attempted to es,tablish. 39vTherefore, II

they have rec,ognized 'owners. Second, altho,ugh the community could be

deceived by someone with, r,egard to metaphysical, or speculative mat-

ters, and, for th,e very reason that it lacks the knowle,dge or informa-

ti,on ahout the truth, [of such. matters], could be led astray, this com-

munity' of citizens', Indians, missionaries', and judges could never be

deceived regarding the matter of these cattle, because they are physi-

cal, real, and visible, and because all proclaim and argue with a

thousand justifications that [the cattle] are theirs 0 'Therefore, they

have recognized owners. Third, not only have we provided seven eye-

witnesses of .sufficient ,age and reputation to testify that the stock

'belongs. to us and that.we are its rec,ognized, legitimate owners, but

we shall ,provide seven hundred [more] with the same qualifications,

who will dec'lare that [the c~ttle] belo,ng to us because we inherited

them, because we raised them~ bec.aus:e we preserved them at a great

risk, because we defended them .against a thousand enemies, and because\

we ,di.d' not abandon them delib.erately. Therefore, they have recognized

owners. Fourth;' and 'finally, those c'attle' can be said to have no'to

./,!

. ,//40 ..',recogn,ized owner only where no one presents any sure, detailed,

and Clear ·evidence, information, or arguments, such that on their bas-

'is, 'ownership might be confirmed. Thus, we have, given on every occa-

sion'since the publication of the afore-cited banda, and throughout

this memorial, we shall give each and every time we are asked, and we

do no~ give, a thousand sure and detailed'proofs, arguments, and rea-

sons, supported .by law, that [the cattle] are ou~s and that they

belo~g to us. Therefore, they have had, do have, and will have recog-

nized owners.

·35. They were raised on royal lands, says the banda. This is

not so, 'we say, because in every legal respect, they were born,

raised, bred, and increased on our lands. 'First our ancestors and

later the.Spanish settlers and Indian neophytes of these missions held

those lands in, good faith as pastures for their cattle~ We today have

held and do hold them with equally good title, and our possession

dates back sixty or seventy years. Peaceful possession in. good faith

for four years, as stated in law noo 1, title 12, book 4, or thro~gh

just title, as stated in [law] 14, or possession for ten years, as

stated in jj40v [law] 19, both of the same title and book of our

Recopilacion Indiana" gives just and l,egal title to the posse?sion,

proprietorship, and dominion of lands and water. Thus; by the virtue

and stre~gth'of these just titles, the holders of [the lands] may sell

them and transfer them. We have had four years' possession [and in a], ,

royal and public sale" .by right of inheritanc e, [we] transferred all

, the ~ightsof acquisition, proprietorship, dominion, claim, and title

to [the lands] to,the buyers~ as expressly stated in the afore-cited

law no. 1" title 12, book 40'" The king has upheld these just four-y~ar

/J

58

requirements and ten-year occupancies, and these just sales. Thus,

with, more just titles and better established rights, he will support

us ''in'the'most just fulfillment or possession of sixty or seventy\

years. which we have had, and do have, of all these lands, of the pas-

tures.,'and of our cattle, which, are born and raised and grazed on them.\1,

Th.eY are' ours., even tho.ugh they b,e, orejanos, or lackine; brands or

marks, because, if it is tho~ght'that they belo~g to the ki~g for that

reason of havi~g been raised' on royal lands, and if we have proved

conc'lus:ively that [they], are not '[royal] lands, b.ut ours, then [the

cattleJ.should and //41 do belong to· us incontestably. This argu-

ment cannot be .refuted'..

36. We have believed, senor governor,. that with, this argument

alo.ne, Yo~ Lordshi,p' s' sense of int.egrit·y and rectitude would be fully

satis.fied on this point. We even' believe that it would be satisfied

• 7with, less, b.ecause· our confide.nee ln your support in no way misleads

us. or dimi.ni.shes. Rather,' we feel that you have comprehended and pen-

etrated to the essence of all the background of this matter, and [have

seen] the most just and well founded r.ights which we have to these'

cattle and to these lands 0 However ~ in order to. give everyone the

fulles.t and most complete satisfaction r.egardi.ng this same point which

we are dis.cussi,ng, we s.tate that those lands and waters are called,

and are in every legal sense, royal [land~J--not granted or alienated

--and that they have been, and are now, unappropriated, wild, unculti-

vated,' and' unoccupied. Thus, the lands which lie betwe'en the Guada-

lupe River and here have been, and are now-~that is, they have been

since the' estab·lishment of thi.s villa, presidios, missions, and ran-

choa--occupied, cultivated, and filled with our cattle. We have built

59

not only our houses, gardens, and fields on [these lands], but also

4lvour.ranchos, II and on these [ranchos] we have built not only

expensive corrals for our cattle, but also our houses in which to live.

[We have done this] together thoughout the district, area, or circum-

ference of'all these pastures with our cattle, that is, where each one

. has owned or owns [landJ, the only difference being that of greater or

lesser distance [from the town?]. This has occasioned the disputes

which we have mentioned. These conflicts have not prevented the work-

i~g or occupation [of the landsJ, altho~gh it has retarded the growth

of haciendas. All of us, .t..ogether and individually, Spaniards and

mission Indians, have had and made corrals arid stoqkades, chutes,

defens,es, embankments, cuts, clearings, roads, trails, water holes,

sheep-folds, and a thousand other things necessary for breeding, prop-

agati,ng, raisi.,ng, increasing, protecting, preserving, and defending

th.e horses, cattle, sheep,. goats, swine, and all the other kinds [of

stock] •. We have invested large sums of money'in these things, as is

evident, true, and manifest, not out of willfullness nor by assumption

of that privilege ourselves, but by application / /42 to the distin-

guished governors of this province, to the captains of this presidio

of Bexar, as well as the judicial authorities of this villa, and its

cabildo, justicia ~regimiento, in accordance with the laws which sup-

ported us in this matter, in order to obtain their permission and con-

sent ,by virtue of our I.egal petitions. We shall provide bountiful

proof'and documentation of these instances, whereby, in due form, we

were authorized to undertake everything which we did and which we have

menti.onedo Therefore~ these lands are by no means royal [lands], and

thus the stock in question is not raised on royal lands, but on' ours.

60

,37. Second, in the same way that we now possess, and our ances-

tors. ,possess.ed, the lands where [we have J our houses, gardens,

,grounds" ,and fields of, grain--with their drain,age and irrigation

ditches., the exidos of this villa, the'mission establishments and

their'exidos~ along with ~ll the other [developments] in th~se settle-

ments--in. good faith, for the l,egally prescribed period of four', ten,

[or] sixty ye,ars, with, no other 'title or instrument legalized or

auth.ori'zed by the' spec ial tribunal of lands and water, we also now

, ,42vposs.e~s., ' J/ ' ,and our ancestors posses'sed, these cattle on these, our

past~res. Thus,' [weJ' did not lack. the' documents which, we should have

fr0m the' ,special tri.bunal of water and lands--which undoubtedly sup-

port arld perfect our most legitimate r,ights, our certain ownership, ~

and our sure dominion--to remain as holders in, good faith, with more

than ten years' poss,ession, of all thos,e titles and rights of property

and dominion,'demanded of us and required ,by our municipal laws, to

whatever', fruits ~re produced by our, gardens, lots, and, grain fields,

and to all domestic animals of every kind born and raised by us on our

plantat~ons. Thus, by this, very same title of holders in good faith,

for more than ten years, of all the grazi~g lands of our cattle

included 1n these aforesaid areas, we have ownership and dominion.

,Therefore, the,y are not royal [pastures J • Therefore, whatever stock

i,s. raised thereon belo~gs to us.

38. Third, [if weJ, granted--which we do not--that all these pas­

ture lands which we are defending as our own were actually //43 royal

[land's], not even for that reas.on would, 'or should, the horses and

cattle born ,and raised on them belo~g to the royal treasury, and we

shall offer' five stro~g a!guments for'this [claimJ. First, those

/,

lands do not produce, nor have they ever' produced, cows, bulls, hors-

es" mares, etc., although they may produce oaks, elms, walnuts, etc.

Second, newborn [cattle] follow the r,egistry of the mothers and their

owners. Third, cows and mares never have or could have given birth to

offspring already branded and marked, but to orejanos without marks or

brands. Fourth, property, wherever it may be, demands and proclaims

its, r,i'ghtful owner. And fifth, [if it were] established that the lands

"are royal [lands], It does not automatically follow that therefore the

cattle which ~ born and raised on them are royal [property], nor

will any philosopher' so infer. Thus, if there are cattle" of· this kind

on those lands, they would not belong to the ki~g, but to whoever put

them there, and'if not to them, then to whoever 'might 'present their

claim, not thro~gh ambi.tion but thro.ugh, law. Therefore, we, the own...

ers of the breeding st'ock, are the owners of the offspri,ng. There-

fore, although, they may be found without marks of brands, we are their

owners. Therefore, although these cattle may be born and //43V raised

on royal lands, they are claimed and proclaimed as ours. Thus, the

lord commandant [general] in his bando, and the lord assessor in his

decree', were 'in error and will be responsible before God and ourselves

for all damages, expenses, delays, and losses that we have undergone

as a result. Therefore ... but enough of arguments, senor governor;

we~shall merely cement this point with two obvious examples, or com-

paris,cns.

39. First, if on these lands where we toil daily, one of us

should' find a treasure, and t'he lord commandant, or the lord assessor,

or our, lord" the ki,ng, or any oth.er mat:l--even if he were the lowliest

man in,the world--shoUld provide evident' proof and clear indication

Ii

62

of his 'undeniable ownership of it, b,ecause of the time in which it was

hidden', the' place of hiding, its quantity, and the size, number, and, .

other characteristics of the'pieces of gold, silver, and other

[metals') .of which it consists, would there be a reason, justification,

or right.for its finder to appropriate it, just on the flimsy basis of

havingfourid it on the lands which he worked 1144and owned'l Certain-

ly not, everyone would .agree, b.ecaus.e in that case it would be neces-

aary' to deny .the·truth of that clearest law of nature, previously

cited, that a thi,ng b.elo,ngs to its owner no matter where it may be.

The most that the owner can do voluntarily for the finder is to give

. him the customary compens.ation. Let anyone apply this example or com-

parison to our case, and he will see how, between one and the other,

there ;:is. not the' sl,ightest discrepancy. Thus, if that principle is

valid"and .it· is also most certai.n that· the horses and cattle in this

region belo.ng to us, b.ecause of the flood of proof, evidence, and

. other thi~gs which we have set forth. in order to establish our owner-

s.hi,p and. r,ight to them) Why are we to have them taken from us, senor

governor, just because of a banda [which says] that [the cattle] were

rai.s,ed on royal lands? Did we not already pay the alcabalas for their

s.ale'! What else does the commandery ,[general] want from us? Does it

wish. to ·see us poorer still, after we fo~ght so many wars at our own

'expens.e, and .·after a thousand, other miseries and misfortunes which

have befallen us? It would be preferable for the lord commandant and

the lord assessor to take those lands from us, 1144vif the right of

their. pqssessions for sixty years is not sufficient to make us the own-

ers. of everythi,ng that is born and raised on them, and, give us permis-

sion' to ta~e our branded cattle and go to settle on other [landsJ,

63

wh.ere': we would be favored and protected by our immediate superiors.

Here, ,we have not been, able to make [the authoritiesJ of this command-

ery'see'the justice of our claim, even though we have had a represent­

ative there for the past two years to defend our r,ights. He has 'got­

ten n6thi~g from them in all that time, after havi~g presented seven

'documents and spent a. great deal of money~ But some day, we shall

make our protests reach the foot of the throne [of SpainJ.

40. The second comparison further compels and guides the' under-

standi~g, and further seals the case against evasion by any argument

[to the contraryJ. Suppose that a man should find in his field, in

his home, on his grounds, or in his orchards, a valuable cloak, a 'cane

with a gold head and set with diamonds,' a silver vessel, or any of the

innumerable ornaments and utensils used by humans in their [daily]

life, //45 which, as we know, are used without marks or brands [of

ownershipJ, and are lost or tend to be lost through a thousand differ­

ent circumstances 'beyond the control of their owners. That man could

in no way appropriate [the find] for himself for the sale, nonsensical

reason, pie de banco, as they say, that he had found it on his land

without a mark or brand, is this not so? There is not the slightest

doubt that everyone would answer that it belongs to its owners. Thus,

in the same way, not because these cattle--r.egardi~gwhose ownership

we have already provided a thousand detailed, clear, and certain

proofs and reports, [and which were] lost or strayed due to t,he count-

less blameless, circumstances that we have mentioned up to now and

shall mention--were found by the commandery .[generalJ, or because it

was made to ,'appear that [the: commandery, g.eneralJ had fotind them, on

royal lands, assumi~g that they are royal, would they belong to the

royal treasury; [they would belong] to us, their rightful owners.

41. Finally, senor, governor, with these two comparisons, or

examples, we ~ave accomplished our mission (as we hoped), and as we

set out to d~, for we have provided the most striking proof of our

legit$mate rights to the cattle in question and being defended here.

Likewise, with all //45v the other valid, conclusive, and rigorous

arguments which we have presented 'in this fourth cause of the losses

"which we have sustained, our just titles and r,ights to them and to the

lands 'and waters where they graze have been preserved, whil~ the three

unsubstantiated material principles, or a.rguments without legal fouil-

dation, which the' commandery and its office of assessor advanced as a

first, second, and third cause for dispossessi,ng us of them, have been

destroyed, defeated, and rebutted. With that, we have concluded, and

do conclude this four~h cause of our crue~ loss, whereby the one

source of our prosperity was seized .from Qur, grasp thro:ugh the export

of large numbers of cattle from here up to [the time of] Your Lord-

shipw s arrival. Although\we could also mention here the other two

bandos which dispossessed us, published by'Your Lordship's predeces-

sor, Don Domingo Cabello, on July 10, [17J83, and October 27, [17]84,

we shall omit them because they are based on the a!guments of the

[bando] of. ,January 11, [17J78, which we have already refuted, because

they were issued by senor Cabello, and because they do not contain a

single item'of substance or worthy'of note.

·42. What we shall now proceed to discuss and //46 advocate,

sefior goYernor, is, and will be, the fifth and final cause of those

which we haye proposed to present in this second article, and which

violently took from our impoverished hands our possessions in horses

, !

65

and cattle ,which, as we have repeated so often, graze between here and

the Guadalupe River. [They are] our only resource for food, clothing,

and the subsistence of our families, the only sustenance for our wid-

ows and orphans, for our Indian neophytes, and for all the inhabitants'

of the villa, presidio, and missions. Their loss totally ruined us,

retarded our, growth., and prevente~ us from flourishing. We hope to

return to [prosperity], ,with God' s h~lp and Your Lordship's patronage,

"if everythi,ng is returned to us and without any fine or tax, as we ask

and claimo" This cause, sir, consists of the fact that the seilor gov-

ernor wh.o preceded Your Lordship, Don Domi~go Cabello, having found'

the ,door opened by this commandery general's bando of January 11,

[17J78--which he misunderstood, as we have pointed out--advanced at

will, because he found us intimidated, confused, and divided by this

and other blows of misfortune and because these cattle, while they

were not infinitely [numerous] as [Cabello] had been led to believe,

were nonetheless plentiful enough to satisfy his desire to have

[theml, under the / /46v fancy pretext of defending royal property. By

virtue of the aforesaid bando, he issued his first orders, against oUr

just rights .to t~e [cattle] and continued to take advantage of. our

confusion. He strengthened his position on said bando by obtaining

favorable de'crees from the assessor's office of this commandery gener-

al,\ dated October 30 and November 5, [17J82, and totally deprived us

of [the cattle's] use. [He] left the old and the young, widows, and.-

~on-widows, orphans and non-orphans, Indian neophytes, and everyon~,

whose temporal subsistence depended upon [those cattleJ, reduced to

utmost misery. [They were] treated not as people who had been con-

querors, settlers, and defenders of the country, and of the fatherland,

66

at the cost of their blood; their lives, and their fortunes,' but rath­

er as one might treat those who had rebelled ~gainst their sovereign,

or ~ho were 'enemies of the faith and of the nation. Thus, having been

sent by the ki~g, our lord (God keep him), to make us flourish, [Ca­

bello] destroyed and annihilated us. He invaded our patrimony; he

intruded upon our inheritance; he invaded 'our cattle; he took them

away under the pretext that they belonged to the ki~g; and he made off

with half, or more than half, [of them., ] as we sh.all now prove / /47

beyon~ question.

43. We swear, senor governor, before Our Lord God, who is to

judge our private sins, as well as everythi~g which we have said, and

shall say,' herein, if it should be false, that not the slightest word

of those which we are about to state with truth, simplicity, and clar­

ity, will be .said or meant out of hatred or out of an evil desire to

da~age [the reputation] of senor Cabello. We know as Christians that

he is our fellow man, and that we are obl.iged to love him, lest we

ourselves be condemned. Yet we are also obl.iged to extract our just

rights to these cattle fr:om the confusion and obscurity into which

they have been thrown by all the causes which we have presented, so

that God and everyone--the king, the commandery [general], and Your

Lordship--might see that said individual has also been 'one of those

[causeS. 5i.nce,] without imp.ugni.ng his conduct,. it will not be possi­

ble to 'make ·a.complete a!gument with regard to his taki~g our· cattle,.

we are' forced to provide a detailed bac~ground of his activities in

order to draw the .irrefutable, or provable, conclusion which we

intend. We should be most haPPYt seffor governor t now and always, if

we had' nothing to say ~gainBt an individual of such high rank, that

67

is,if,I/47v since his arrival and during his entire administration,

he had tried to relieve our misfortunes and to settle all our disputes

with' the' miss.ions over cattle, lands, and water; if he had stemmed the

flow of all our sufferings from war,. since he had more than sufficient

forces' to do so;' if he had prevented the excessive exportation of

)

cows, granted to individuals who were not ·entitIed to do so, whereby

( the ·'.community of missiori Indians, Spanish settlers, and widows and

orphans, who shoUld have received preference, was badly hurt; if he

had controlled the slaughter [of stockJ, and had prevented the

des..truction which. the Lipanes eaused among our cattle; if he had

sought to sustain us in our old titles, in the quiet and peaceful use

of the pasture lands lyi~g on this side of the Guadalupe River, and in

the f:ree right to the cattle which. als.o graze' on this side, even

tho~gh. they had no marks or brands--for we explained to him time and

time .agai.n so many conclusive reasons why they were ours; and finally,

if he had always behaved as properly required by his //48 age and

rank, as a governor, a judge, and a Christian. But, since everything.

happened to the contrary., and in order not to encumber the principal

aim\or thread of this memorial further on, we wish to disencumber our-

selves at this point of everything which is to serve as background

leading to the point to be established categorically by our case. '~I

With. this in mind, we affirm his irreligious conduct, scandalous to

the entire community, with r.egard to the most fundamental of Christian

obligations~ which are to confess and take communion at least· once a

year at the time when the 'Church requires it. This official's fail-

ure to. do so.' s'et 'a particularly, bad example for ~veryone. We affirm.

the still greater scandal whi'ch he created by not attendi~g Mass on

68i

,the requi~ed days'during a four- or five-month period when he was in

, ,good, health. Most notable was the' fac.t' that, while Mass was held

'between 8 and 9 [a.m.], he would go out for his walk between 10 and 11

until '12 [noon], and from 8 in the eveni~g until 12 [midnightJ. We

affirm his habitual custom of cursi~g and blaspheming, often saying to

his. servants, "If anyone comes, looking for me, tell him that the

Devil has taken me," [and at] other times //48v that he had [once]

believed that God had the'power to prevent anything from happening,

'but that he'no lo~ger believed-that, because [God] did not keep some-

thi~g from happening to him. He cursed his mother, he cursed himself"

and he cursed the Church. and the pulpit, and everything that inconven-

ienced or that did not inconvenience him. CAt still] other times, [he

told hi.s servants] that he never prayed to God for viceroys, or 'bish-

ops" or any of the other mi.nisters of the ki,ng and the Church., because

the Devil could t'ake them all. ,We affirm his unmanly way of mixing

into all the, gossip, intrigue, and other habits of the opposite !sex.

We affirm his irregular and wicked manner of disciplining married men

and women in their concubinage, whe~ein he would say to the men,

"Look, your wife is the mistress of so-and-so. Go kill him, or kill

h~r." To the women [he would say], "Look at your husband. He is in

Mrs. s.o-and-so' s. house. Go, get him out of there." And to their moth-

ers [he would sayJ, "Prepare the baby cloth.es for the grandchild which

so-and-s'o is about to bear you. tV Th.ese and other such enormities had

rami'lies and married couples in the. greatest imaginable uproar and

des.peration, [such as is] never seen, even amo,ng barbarians. Thus, he

drove //49 men and women to the brink, where it was necessary to workJ

harder.than'ever'to restrain them and console them with the hope that

69

in time- a solution would come. ,We' attest to the bad conduct' of his

,secretaries, who once took fifty p[eso]s from a citizen in the process

of issuing him a permit to round up cattle. We, affirm the indisci-

pline of the troops. [While we shallJ omit innumerable things which

do not concern us [hereJ, they did devastate all the domestic cows,

both branded and unbranded, in and around'the villa and missions, in

the most visible, open, and vexing manner. They did almost as much to

[the cattle] on our ranchos and everywhere that they went to graze the

horse herd, furtively saddli~g, slaughtering, or selling our broken

horses. We affirm that, on a given day, while our fathers, brothers,

sons, or servants killed by hostile [Indians] in nearby fields were

brought in one side of town, parties of soldiers would be setting out

from the other [side] to chase mestena horse herds. [They would]

return wit~ great numbers of them, sell them to the residents, and

enjoy //49v the fruits thereof, whereas the king had paid them to

defend us. In this activity, which was not ,part of their duty, we

suffered further losses from their killi~g of'the stock. We attest

that [Cabello] ordered that the parties of twenty-five or thirty resi-

dents, or even more, who went out with the few [available] troops to

pursue the enemy, not be issued gunpowder or bullets at the king's

expense or at their own, even though they were on hand 'in the abilita­

cion. This was tantamount to sending them or forcing them to go like

lambs to ,the slaughter, because they,were unarmed, and if they did not

go', they were punished ,for disobedience. We affirm the fact that he

gave permission for dances to be held at n,ight, giving as his reason

that it was useful, since the hostile [IndiansJ, seei~g everyone

awake., would not attack the town. But there was such licentiousness

, \

If

70

that the alcaldes ordinarios formally petitioned [him] to publish a

banda .against such disorders and to prohibit dances at improper hours

of the ~ight. Altho~gh he resisted at first, [Cabello] finally

acceded. 'to [the demand], in retaliation for which, he published a

bando requiring that all the dogs in town be killed, setting //50 a

deadline for it, with mandatory fines .. When the deadline passed, and

s.ome ,people did not comply because they needed [their a.ogs] to defend

their property, he used the troops to go and kill the [dogs] as if

they were Indians, and to collect the' fines. From one person they

took a blanket, from· a widow, a sheet, from another, an axe, etc., all.........

of which. was put up for auction in' the guardhouse and sold, despite

the protests of their owners. To all of this, we can add the interest

whi.ch.. he· h.ad in playi.ng and pub.licly permitti:ng games of alb.ures, as

well as others too numerous to mention. We affirm that he transmitted

an order to the guard that the sentinels, both day and night, should

kill with. t.heir pikes--without exception and without explanation--any

domestic cattle, particularly cows, which might wander into the

streets of the town or into its plazas. These animals, being domesti-

cated, do not cause the slightest harm, rather they are most useful,

because, they sustain widows and orphans with their milk. With this

[po'li.cy, Cabello] left them in starvation, a sight never seen [even]

in the ,greatest barbarity of sav.age peoples. We affirm that he

allowed //50v the Indians. of the Lipana nation to enter. in great num-

bers to sl~ughter our cattle on our' pastures,.' They devastated the

RanchoS. de las Cabras, which_. belo.ngs to the mission of La Espada, kill-

ing the~e over' two thou~nd head of domestic and wild cattle,.and the.

[RanchoJ de ,la.Mora,~ be.lo.ngi.:llS to the'inission of San' Antonio [de

)

71

ValeroJ, there killi~g more than four thousand. Those pastures, those

of the 'mission of Rosario, [which is] next to the presidio of La

Bah1.a , and [the pa.sturesJ of [La BahlaJ, were left as barren of these"

cattle as'-' if 'they ,had never held any. [The' LipanesJ killed more than

ten thousand head on the pasture lands of said mission and of Bahla,

and only by a miracle did they not do, the same to our pastures,

although,they entered them many times as well. 'They stayed as long as

'two month's' at EI Carris'o, Capote, Nogales, etc 0, each time killing

over two thousand cattle. The most astonishing thi~g was that [Cabe­

llo] did not allow us the opportunity to drive them out of all these

places. and ran~hos, as we s.urely would have done, punishing them and

taking back everything//51 they had belonging to the missions and to

us, in recompense for the'losses that they had caused us. We affirm

that [Cabello] ,did not allow us' to pay the diesmos which are so

[rightfUlly] due Our Lord God and our mother, the Holy Church, for the

said cattle which are called orejano 'cows and horses, wherein a tenth

,was, proper~y discounted before we paid the amount due to the king for

the ones which we had caught., We are not obl,igated to pay a diesmo

for [cattle] which we buy, as we are taught and demonstrated by the

custom so properly established, which is the best interpreter of the

laws. 'On the contrary, it is understood that the royal treasury

should, also pay [the diesmoJ, because His Majesty has commanded, in

law 16, title, 6 [i. e., 16], book -1, of our Recopi1acion Indiana,' that

all of his'haciendas should pay the diesmo in the same manner as other

subjects. In response to the'petition of the [local] diesmo collec­

tor, the most illustrious lord bishop of Linares and of this diocese,

iss'ued" an auto from Monterrey, 'dat,ed 'April 19, [17]84, in which he

. . ~

72

declared on the basis of solid and clear logic and canon [lawJ that

diesmos should be paid on both indicated types of cattle, notwith-

standing any of the supposed extra-legal arguments regarding mostrenco

cattle o~ royal 'property. These petitions and orders should be on

file in the' 115lv archives of the diocese and of this government,

because all of it 'was made known in the proper form to the aforesaid

senor Caberlo. Nevertheless, he never indicated his understanding,

nor did he issue the orders that he should have issued in a grave mat-

ter of such interest to the Church. Thus did he do her great harm in

the collection of diesmos. We affirm the injuries and slights, both

in word and deed, with which he treated this ayuntamiento, by saying

that it was necessary to yoke the alcalde, Don Marcos de Castro, with

an ox, that the ,alcaldes, Don Manuel Delgado and Don Ygnacio de Pena;

were barbarians and idiots--as shown in his official letter of Febru-

ary 24, [17J84--and other in$ults of this tenor which are recorded in

the\ official letter which this ayuntamiento sent to the commandery

general on November 3, [17J85. These, and other similar ones too

numerous to discuss, are filed in our archives. We affirm the delight

that he took in calling all kinds of people--whether religious or sec-

ular, cabildo or private individuals, by word or in writing, publicly

or in secret--thieves, bawds, and liars, as we shall prove with an

52 'official letter from him, dated II August 1, [17J84, to the command-

ery [generalJ, and with a thousand others if need beo We affirm his

irregular method of administering justice, wherein he would grab the

petitioner by the arm and throw him out, telling him to take that

foolishness to those beasts, the alcaldes. We affirm his constant

talk of immorality, to the great scandal of old and young. Finally,

73

'affirm--aside from a thousand other things which we shall omit so as

not to stain this paper or to become tedious--the hatred, obsession,

or mania which he conceived and held against us. He not only ruined

many honorable citizens, as is well known, by totally destroying them~

in th~ir persons and their property, but on May 22, [17J80, he wrote

to his lieutenant general from the presidio of La Bahla, saying,

"There would not be a single stone left upon another in their country

that would not tumble down, when you know, [these people] for what they

ar,e, etc." . If the conduct of said gentleman was as irregular as we

have seen 'in all the related aspects of'his administration, it was

equally irregular with r,egard to the cattle of these citizens and mis-

sions, which" tho~gh [claimed as] royal [property], were not [the

ki~gtsJ. They were ours, [but Cabello] coveted them and appropriated

, for himself the bulk / /52v of the profits from them.

44. It seems, senor governor, that without deceivi~g or being

d~ceived, a.nd without fraud or fallacy, we have drawn this certain

conclusion from all the 'preceding evidence. If each one of [these

antecedents] is enough alone to warrant [such a conclusion], Your

Lordship and everyone can imagine with what .terrible force it is

imposed by so many of them. These antecedents are public and known to

all, as the entire populace of this province, so cruelly oppressed(

duri~g his. administration, will and must loudly proclaim. But, in

order to give' the most complete satisfaction to everyone regarding the

truth of [our cha!geJ, and of the sincerity of our declarations, we

shall still p.rove it, verify it, and reinforce, it in two conclusive

ways. ~irst, [we shall] state the number of orejano cattle which,

duri~g t'he e,ight years ',of the administration of said gentleman, 'were

\

taken from this province to neighboring provinces. According to the

register of gulas for this type [of cattle exportJ, signed by his hand, .

'and kept with the Mesteffa accounts, it was ten thousand nine hundred

one head. To this number we add, as we must unavoidably add, //53 the

numbe~ of those slaughtered and consumed at this villa and its sur-

rOWlding missions, as well as th'e number of oreJano horses caught dur-

ing that time. Second, [we shallJ compare [to see] if what is on hand

in cash or debts in the Mesteffa Fund agrees in amount with that pro-

duced by the sales of both types [of stockJ, caught, exported, and

con'surned. The lack of clarity, or rather, the confusion with which

the gulas that' we have seen and noted for the export of orejano and

branded cattle are entered in said register, would lead the most gul-

lible to suspect that said gentleman contrived an effective means of

concealing fraud from those not familiar with the matter. But he did

not fool us. ' Feigning' ignorance and keeping silent, we kept him in

'our hands and under watch, taking note of everything we needed to

record and which was'to serve us when the time came.

45. This is not a fabrication, senor governor; it is a reality.

In proof, we declare that in the register of gulas for the export of

cattle--to which we refer, because, since it is signed by [Cabello's]

hand,.W'e are innocent of slander--we see that he made some entries

with details as to how many cattle [were] branded and how many [were]

//53v orejanos. In other [entries] he does not specify if they were

branded or orej ano.. In others, he put s the words, '''part branded and

, part orejano." In others, he lists as branded what were really ex-

ported as.orejanos. In others, he reduces the number contained in the

exported.herd. In others, he puts that the exported cattle were young

i'

75

bulls or old cows, while in ,other entries he just puts "cattle."

Finally, in every entry, he wi thholds the number of mature bulls,

mature cows, young bulls, and old stock. Thus, he obscured, or tried

to obscure, as far as possible, the profit which resulted to his poc~

"ketbook from the manipulation of these orejano cattle, which he and

others tried to label as royal. We shall not rely on that evidence

alo~e, but shall provide others, such as the followi~g.

46. There are no ,entries in the register of gulas for the herd

of e~ght hundred branded cattle exported by Don Juan de Ysurieta to

the province of Luciana, and the herd exported by Don BIas Musquis to

the [province] of Coahuila, also containi~g branded cattle and horses.

This 'is a glari~g omission which diminishes the number of [cattle]

resulting from the gu1as, and swells the number which //54 we know to

have been exported. Also missing are the gulas for other herds

exported ,to the province of Coahuila, one by Don Josse Padron of three '

hundred rorty-eight orejano cattle, as shown at the beginning of the

bando of July 10, [17J83, and two by Don BIas Musquis, one of five

hundred and the other of tweJ,..ve hundred ore'jano cattle. We and those

who\ exported them are the most reliable and sure eyewitnesses to these

exports and their number. Thus, the product of these three herds of

Qrejano cattle, which total two thousand forty-eight [headJ, sold ~~

twenty r[ealeJs, comes to five thousand one hundred twenty p[esoJs,

which, ended up, [in the pocket] of 'said gentleman. If this is not so,

then let 'him tell us where that money is and return it to us, because

it and, all [the moneyJ in the Mestenas account belo~gs to us, as the

product of our cattle.

47. Furthermore, in the afore-cited r,egister Of, gulas, senor

76

Cabello writes that' on October 13, 1780, a gula was issued to Marcos

'Hernandez " a resident of the presidio of La Bahla del Esp[1ri]tu San-

to, to export one thousand two hundred thirty-four branded cattle from

the mission of Esplritu Santo to the province of Luciana. [This is]

54van extraordinary falsehood, because II the original passport signed

by said gentleman, which we have kept in our archives in the file of

papers deali~g with this matter, is dated July 1 of the aforesaid year

of [17J80. This is the true [dateJ, and the document list~ fifteen

hundred head without menti0ning whether they are branded or orejano,

or to' whom they belo.ng. Wh.at clearer [evidence], senor governor, is

nee.ded to see the frauds of said gentleman and the profits he made

from declaring our cattle to be royal property~ Since the herd did in

fact contain fifteen hundred orejano cattle, to which we and the one

who exported them are and always shall be. first-hand witnesses, we

should charge., and do charge, him with [that fact J and for the profits

thereof, along with another [herd] of' twelve hundred, likewise export-

ed by Don Antonio Blan to the aforesaid province of Luciana, because

these were also orejano cattle, caught on our pastures. To this

indisputable fact, as well, we are all eyewitnesses. In the afore-

cited register' of gulas, this herd is listed as branded cattle belong­

ing to the mission of Esplritu Santo, which is just as false as //55

the previous [entriesJ.

48. From all of this, senor governor, and from much. more, which

we have omitted· in order not to make this memorial too lengthy, we

again conclUde that said gentleman did not fail to employ every means

that s,:ugges.ted itself to hi.s imagination, and came to his. hands, to

77

confuse and ob'scure our r,ights and to conceal his profits. Thus, it

iS,no'fabrication, falsehood, or slander [to sayJ that he sought and

obtained the bulk of the profits from the orejano cattle which he

tried to claim as royal [stockJ, when they were very much ours, as we

have certainly proven. But we cannot fail, nor shall we fail, to

point out t'hat we are missing not only 'those herds from the aforesaid

r,egister of gufas, but also the ,proceeds from them, which is a terri­

ble and notorious scandal, as well as [the profits] from [the herdsJ

of Don Fran[cisJco' Xavier Rodr,lguez, totalling five hundred sixty

head, as evidenced by the passport or, gula which we have in our

archives in the afore-cited file, or those for the cattle of Fran­

[cisJco de los Santos, totalling twenty head, or those for the cattle

of Antoni.o Leal, totalling a hundred head, or those for the cattle of

Fran[cisJco Perez, totalling twenty-four head, the guras for which are

missing f'rom the af'oresaid register. //55v Neither we nor anyone else

will find these credited in the master l~dger for the [MestenaJ

accounts, to which we confidently refer, nor anywhere else. ' We refer

the doubters to this ledger and to document number 14 of those which

we have in our archives in the afore-cited file of papers on this mat­

ter. Let them see that document and compare it with the register of

gufas arid m,th the master le,dger ct They',will see as clearly as the sun

that none of the seven herds of orejano cattle exported in the year

[17J83:' is credited in said master ~e,dger, whereas the exporters should

have paid, and did pay, the sum of twenty rCealeJs per head to said

senor Cabello. Nor will they see one [herd] for the year [17J84.

They will also see how he cut 'out two from the year [17J85, and

another two for [17J86. Then let them j~dge and decide if we are not

78

. more .t.han justified in saying th.at senor Cabello appropriated them,

and that he insisted that our cattle were royal property for the sole

reason.that he reaped profits from them. [ButJ he left us two unmds­

takable records, in his own hand, of his //56 covetous actions. What

.man [would] enter the afore-cited herds in the r.egister of gulas so

that we and everyone might see them? Who would fail to credit their

fee.s in the master ledger, as he had credited those for previous and

subsequent years?' Only [CabelloJ, who thus left us, despite himself,

with the instruments of our defense, s.igned by his own hand.' For

this,. we. give thanks to God.

49.. Finally, we ~ght say that senor Cabello recorded his

accounts from memory· and at his own will duri.ng the first three years

of his administration, entering in the register of gulas. the herds of

orejano cattle exported to the neighbori~g provinces, although not all

of them, as' we have shown. And in' the document of transfer of the

funds and of the master le~ger for this account, he named the persons

who still owed [money] to the Fund for the supposed mesteffas, specify~

ing the number of head exported and the debt which accrued to each

person, which is the same as specifying twenty rCealeJs.. per head, but

without explaining if they were all bulls, all cows, all young bulls,

or all old stock. Whereas //56v the herds should have consisted of

all four of these types--as is common knowle~ge and as experience has

taught us--CCabelloJ should have shown a difference in their prices,

that is, [the price] for the bulls, for the cows, for the young bulls,

and for the old stock. He made no distinction in their ages, their\

types~ nor their prices, but put them all down as being of the same

age, type, and price. Very well~ we say, if by this he wished to

( ,

79

obscure our j-ust rights to those cattle by every means available to,

him, we, on the contrary, having salvaged our righteous [claim] from

obscurity and confusion, as we have proven, have discovered his

intentions. Based on his own accounts and on documents signed by his

own hand, ~ charge him for ten thousand nine' hundred one orejano cat-

tle, exported as royal property, at the same rate of twenty rCealeJs

[per head] that he charged us. It is only fair to measure a man by

the same yardstick which he uses. Though //57 it might be argued by

said gentleman that·he sold some at that price, others at two pessos,

others at twelve r[eale]s, others at a peso, and others at four

r[eale]s, we admit and recognize that fact and bear witness to it.

But we ·also know that many more [cattle] were exported than are con­

tained in the register and that therefore each one of the gqlas should

list more cattle than they do. Despite this, [however] so as not to

involve ourselves in a deeper investigation, we shall concern our-

selves only with. what is in his own hand and with the most, glaring

[irregularities] that we have mentioned. Besides, we are causing him

,no injury in having him pay us as we paid the Cfees] to him, and as he

left indications for us to. pay in the afore-cited document.

50. From the aforesaid number of ten thousand nine hundred one

head, called orejanos and' sold, as they were, by said senor Cabello at

twenty rCealeJs a head, the resulting sum, by careful and correct

count.,' is twenty-seven thousand two hundred fifty-four pesos and four

r[ealeJs. To this quantity we add, as it is r,ight to add, five hun­

dred pesos for a thousand head, also orejanos, which he sold to Don

Nicolas la Mate at the price of four //57v r[eale]s a head. We add

one hundred sixty-three p(eso]s for five herds of branded cattle

80

which, as is well known and as we witnessed, were taken to Nacadoches

and the province of Luciana. The gulas for these, as we have said,

are not in ,the register, and their number comes to seven hundred

fifty-two head, for which they paid two,r[ealeJs per head. [ThisJ is

shown in the master ledger and document number 16 of those which we

have on file among the papers dealing with this matter in our

archives, to which we refer G We' [alsoJ add two hundred thirty-three

p[esoJs and four rCealeJs for four hundred sixty-seven head which the

purveyors--so called by the aforesaid governor--Bartolome Rosales and

Amad~r Delgado drove into this villa, in addition to those which said

governor lists in his five record books on this matter. When you com-

pare those record books with the sworn transactions and the examina-

t'ion of said purveyors--which is [documentJ number [sicJ in our

arc'hives--you can see the resulting surplus [of cattleJ. They paid a

price of four r[ealeJs per head. We add everythi~g that he personally

collected and received from these residents which regards this sub­

ject //58 and which is individually recorded in the five record books

in the writing and signature of said senor Cabello for the years

[17J82, [17J83, [17J84, [17J85, and [17J86, which also include all the

proceeds from the horse herds, likewise termed orejanos or mestenos.

Its total is two thousand five hundred fifty p[esoJs and five

r[ealeJs,. W'e add one thousand sixty eight p[esoJs and four r[ealeJs

whi,ch he received fr.om what was sent from La Bahla, Nac,ogdoches,' and

the mission of Esp[lriJtu Santo, and collected from our citizens and

individuals of this villa a [This] is recorded in his letters of

transmittal and receipt and' in document number 13, which we also have

in our· archives in the aforesaid file. We add seven hundred forty

(

81

pesos for a fine on one hundred e~ghty-fiye cattle, at four pesos

each, which he took from Don Juan Andres Trabieso, of this community,

and' sold publicly in this plaza. The fine was paid with two buffaloes

which the aforesaid Traviesso had ca~ght and raised with great care

and effort and which he valued at much more than the seven hundred

forty pesos. The aforesaid senor Cabello sent the money to Spain for

reasons that we do not comprehend. And that //58v was not credited in

the master ledger as he credited other [finesJ. All these charges, it

appears, amount to thirty-two thousand five hundred e~ght pesos and

one real, as Your Lordship will please note in document number 10,

this bei~g a most satisfactory and legal account, which we shall offer

as proof at any time.

51. Now, senor. governor, would Your Lordship be so kind as to

compare that sum. of thirty-two thousand five hundre.d eight pesos and

one r[eaJl--which we rightfully cha!ge, demand, and ask, as we should

deman.d and ask, of the a;foresaid senor Cabello , without any qualms of

conscience, for it is the same sum which results from the afore-

mentioned papers and is most faithfully derived and taken from the

r.egister of. gulas s.igned by his own hand, from the fi ve record books

wri.tten and s.igned by him, from all the letters of transmittal from

the post of Nacodoches and the royal presidio of La Bahla, and from

all the other instruments of receipt made .here, all recorded under

//59 his signature--with the account which he delivered of the funds

produced by this department~ It is recorded undeniably in the 'master

le.dger contained in the chest labelled "Mesteffas, n and in the record

book which. he delivered and which. goes with said ledger, each of them

s.igned by his hand. Therein, one can see recorded and stated the

l'f

general.total for all these proceeds, which is thirteen thousand

ninety-six pesos and six rreales of net [incomeJ. We have already

subtracted from that the three hundred seventy p[es'oJs it contained in

fines on contraband [stock] charged to Don Marcos Vidal, Don Fran-

[cisJco Flores, and Don Phelipe Flores, because, not having been pro-

duced by orejano cattle, we consider it right that they not be includ-

ed or credited in this account. Your Lordship will see, as will the

','entire world, how great is the difference between [our] charge and the

[written] accounts; how great a distance there is between one account

and ano~her; how said gentleman made off with the bulk of the funds,

which, tho~gh they were ours because they were produced by our cattle

herds, he manipulated under the high-soundi~g, specious, and [falsely]

respectable pretext that they were royal property; and how there is

missing from this fund, or this / ;59v department, or we should say

from ourselves and from this community of .citizens, widows, orphans,

and Indians from the missions, nineteen thousand four hundred eleven

pesos and three rreales. Thus, since these herds are ours, we have

uncovered the deception with which, under the, guise that [they were]

royal property, he cheated us out of them and took them for himself.

But if we assume that, for some reason unknown up to this point, the

cattle did,belong to the ki?g, we would have to claim likewise that he

had cheated 'the king out of his patrimony. One way or another, in any

event, he is irremissibly pbligated by justice to restore and return

it, either to the king or to us, or to show clearly, distinctly, and

conclusively a satisfactory legal account of its whereabouts. We have

had, and shall always have, the glory not only of defendi~g with our

lives, with our blood, and with our property, this frontier provinc~~

83

the.patrimony of the ki~g, our lord, but also that of defending, as we

h d 1160 also at t the d f ds all defen now, our own cos, l. s e rau ed property,

in case it should belong to [the kingJ.

52. Thus far, senor, governor, we have proceeded in the confi-

dence that Your Lordship will lend a sympathetic ear to our claims,

protect us in our r~ghts, and render us the justice to which, for the

many reasons which we have established and expressed, we are truly

entitled •.. With this, senor governor, not only have we made a vigorous

and· final conclusion to the fifth and last proof of the proposition of

the second article--proving clearly with. undeniable facts the fifth

reason why we were dispossessed of our horses and cattle, which was

the interest which the senor governor, Don Domingo Cabello, took in

th.em, .1lllder the pretext that they were royal property--but we have

also shown categorically, with the ten arguments which adorn, form,

and compose this lengthy memorial, the substantial r.ights and undenia-

ble justice which are ours. We had proved this [rightJ and had it

always, but we were needing someone to hear us and to represent us in

60vour cause. With God's II help, we have found in Your Lordship what

we could never find in your predecessors. We place [our case] humbly

at your feet,. calling, pleading, b.e.ggi~g, U!ging, and promptly demand-

ing with it that you sponsor and protect us in the reasonable and just

rights which we have to these cattle, about which there should be no

doubt. Should there still remain any [doubtJ, they should belong tous and be turned over to us nevertheless, not because of ambition, for

this is not what compelled us in this instance to demand them'as ours,

but because of the ~egal reason given by Dr. Don Antonio Bustamante in

his afore-cited memorial to this same 'p~pose, which says that theI

84 '

great emperor" Justinian, in one of his ordinances--and our laws do

likewise--held that whenever the case arose that between the monarGh

and his subject there might be a dispute over property and there was a

doubt as, to who had the better claim, the suit should be decided in

favor of th,e' subject, because in such. a case, his necess.ities should

be considered more U!gent. [This does] not [apply] between one sub-'

ject and another, however, becaus,e in that case, accordi,ng to other

, 61laws of the same II emperor, the difference should be divided.

Thus, even in case that, after everythi!lg we have said, our r,ights

to those cattle should still remain in doubt, for those same reasons

and I~W5 [cited aboveJ, they should be conceded and transferred to us,

parti.cularly since, as is well known, they have deteriorated to near

extincti.on with. the prolo.nged wars and all the other troubles which we

have mentioned. With, this in mi.nd, Your Lordship w:i11 please to spon-

sor, defend, and protect us, because by so doing, you will serve God

and king, and the four corners of the earth will resound with such a

just action undertaken by Your Lordship, whose honorable support we'

entreat. 'Therefore, this 'illustrious cabildo, justicia, ~ regimiento,

along with the representatives for this community, for themselves and

in the name of this community and of this entire province, with its

presidios and missions, in the name of all these poor neophyte Indi~

ans,and finally on behalf of all the poor widows and defenseless

orphans, most humbly begs and beseeches Your Lordship to deign to

undertake and 'carry out [their defenseJ, accordi!lg to the justice

which,' for so many reasons, attends their [cause], and according to~

what they have'asked and do ask now. In addition to its being just,

61v'they 'will receive it through mercy or II favor. We swear that

85

this, our memorial, does not proceed.out of malice and [swear] on

'whatever [oath] is necess.ary, etc.

Luis Mariano Menchaca[Rubric]

Simon de Arocha[Rubric]

Juachln Menchaca[Rubric]

FranCcisJco Travieso[RubrfcJ

Juachln Leal['Rubric]

Pedro Sambrano[Rubric]

t

, !

Santi,ag~ S.eguln[Rubric]

JuCaJn J[oseJph Flores[Rubric]

Additions

Joachln Flores[Rubrfc]

Juan Jos,e Bueno[Rubric]

,Jose Macario Sambrano \t.

[Rubric]

53. But it is not only for those nineteen thousand four hundred

eleven pesos and three r[ealeJs that we should, and do, charge said

gentleman, before God, before the ki~g,'and before his ~ighest tribun-

ala, as well as before Your Lordship, but 'also for the enormous

expenses. which he caused us to make in order to keep an agent, as we

. / 62did for, two years, at the / commandery, general to defend [us]

.against such. a bold, violent, and unjust· plunder as they clearly made

86

of our stock. [They] took no notice of our lamentable situation, the

unparalleled hardships of pioneers, the heavy burdens which we car-

ried, the wars which we had sustained and continued to sustain, and

the poverty to which we had been reduced by so many calamities, for we

can assure Your Lordship that we lacked nothing more than a brand or

'collar [to be like] slaves, ~r exiled prisoners, or miserable day-

\

laborers. All these misfortunes, occasioned perhaps by the wrath of

Divine Justice, which we humblY'reve~ed and accepted, were surely the

~ t,

caus.es that the commandery general, satis·fied perhaps to see us so

downtrodden after having spent four thousand fifty-seven pesos and

four r[eale]s, failed to hear us or to concern itself with our irre-

futable claims. We were only given, as a first step, four months in

which to round .up, brand, and put to pasture all of our stray herds.

No~ only was this [measure] dictated by the lord assessor of the com-

mandery [general] without knowledge or experience in the conditions or

substance of this matter, in no way serving our interests for the many

substantial //62v reasons that we have already indicated in the fifth

and final argument of the proposition of the first article of this

memorial, but we were unable to make use of it because it was pub-

lished at a very inconvenient juncture of time. That [period] was

from July 10,' [17J83' on, because, on the one hand, we were unavoidab~y

concerned with our fields, which,needed our pe~sonal attention in

order that their crops might flourish. On the other hand, there was

the upcoming trip to the fair at the villa of Saltillo, where some of

us had t·o go to cover our debts with what little we had, while others

us'ed their horses to carry freight and [still] others [went] to earn

their·formales, and all [went] to derive the means of aiding

87

. themselves and their families. This division of people understandably

impeded and prevented the use of those four months, and although this

period was extended another two [monthsJ, which were November and

·December 'of [17J84, also without our aski~g for it, we faced even

greater impediments to its use. Nor would we have used it, //63

because it did not suit us, as we have said, and because, with our

horses rendered unserviceable by the recent trip from Saltillo, with

the .heavy rains and the cold, with crops of corn, sugar cane, beans,

etc., to be harvested, and with the fiestas juradas, all of which

required our personal attention, such a short and inconvenient period

would not serve us. Thus, as a result.of all this and everything else

which has··been mentioned, Governor Don Domi~go Cabello paid no atten-

tion whatsoever to our humble vocal. appeals and l.egal petitions in

defense of our rights, as we proved in document number 10 of the

papers on this matter. We named an .agent to. go, as he did go, before

the commandery [generalJ to defend our just [rightsJ and we spent on

this suit--which, for the many reasons set forth [hereinJ, we should,

and do call unjust--the sum of four thousand fifty-seven p[eso]s and

four r[eale]s, which we rightly add to the cha!ge, as well as all the

delays and injuries which we have undergone as a result.

54. Nor, senor governor, is this [all] that we should //63v

cha.rge, and do charge, again'st said. gentleman, because it is a fact

that, with the kinds of extortions that we have just described and

have pointed out t'hroughout this memorial, he destroyed and impover-

ished us to the maximum. Thus, to whom, if not to him, should we

cha~ge all these expenses and all our setbacks and injuries? . And to

whom, if not to him, should this community of mission Indians and

88

residents of this villa and presidio.ch~rge the destruction and devas­

tation of so many domestic and wild cattle, killed by the Lipan Indi-

ans ~ot only in the. general area but on the outskirts of these towns,

due to his negligence, overs,ight, and carelessness? For about two

years, a Lipan party of up to forty, 'without [countingJ women and

ch.ildren--and at times up to a hundred--was encamped next to our villa

on the other side of the [San Antonio] River. Not only did they con-

sume their usual abundant quantities of fresh and dried meat, fat, and

tallow, but they also sold them to anyone who wished to buy them.

Where did these savages catch their [stock] //64 if they owned no cat-

tle~ . From ,our own, because our domestic cattle and oxen would go to

sleep at ,night and not' live to see the dawn. Who else but these Lipan

Indians, through the culpable indulgence of said official, consumed

more than two thousand head of wild and domestic cattle which the mis-

sian of S[aJn Fran[cisJco de la Espada had on its Rancho de las

Cabras, more than four thousand [headJ on the Rancho de la Mora,

belonging to the mission of S[a]n Antonio [de ValeroJ, more than ten

thousand [head] on the pastures of the Rosario mission next to the\et ,

royal presidio of La Bahla and on the [pastures] of the residents of

sai.d presidio, more than six thousand [head] on the pastures of El

Carrizo, Nogales, Capote, Mesqui~e, Tuliyo, etc., belo~gi~g to the

mission of'Esplritu Santo, also adjacent to said presidio, and to many

of the cattle raisers in this villa? This amount of cattle, at the

absolute minimum price of four rCealeJs a head, which is the'least

that their owners can and should demand for them--and we demand .it on

their' behalf--represents eleven thousand p[esoJs~ We charge said gen­

tleman for all. those cattle 'which' were destroyed, for he had enough

89

troops. But he used [the troops] to go out and catch mestenas in

order to sell them to the citizens. He employed them to slaughter

domestic breeding cows //64v within the plazas in the town, and he

used them to kill our dogs,'for no other reason than to prevail in his

weird notions and manias. He could have employed [the troops], along

with more than three hundred citizens who would have been ready and

willing at an 'hour's notice, to go out and drive the aforesaid Indians

away from the afore-mentioned places, especially since it~was well

known that for such expeditions [we] did 'not need more powder, bul-

lets, ,~aI?-ces, or, cueras, but some good cudgels. With these, we could

have ,properly prevented 'the destruction of all those afore-named cat-

tIe and ranchos and the impoverishment of the mission Indians and of

ourselves. But, since from the outset of this administration, he

planned to wipe us out, as we have said that he wrote from the royal

presidio of La Bahla, he attempted to carry it out, oppressing us to

the limits. Therefore, with just reason, we charge him for all our

[1 tJ t d f 11 th tb k d ··· //65 h· hos proper y, an or a e se ac s an lnJurles W lC we

have suffered as a result, for which, etc.

Simon de Arocha[Rubric]

Juachln Menchaca[Rubric]

Fran[cisJco Travieso[RubricJ

Juach1n' LealCRubricj

Luis Mariano Men­chaca [Rubric]

Pedro Sambrano[Rubric]

Santiago Segu!n.[~ubricJ

JuCaJn J[oseJph Flores[Rubric].

//65v-66v [Blank] .

90

tJuachln Flores

[Rubric]

Juan Jose Bueno[RubricJ

Jose Macario Sambrano[Rubric]

CD.B., 1-65 pp., 1787J