The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 9, July 1905 - April, 1906 Page: 76
ix, 294 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
but which was crossed by only two rude paths, and occupied by
only three small garrisons, a handful of impoverished settlers, and
four useless missions.1
As a general result of his inspection, which revealed to him
some establishments stagnant and useless and others without de-
fence, Rubi concluded-what ought to have been seen long before
-that Spain was trying to spread over too much ground, and that
a wise policy for her to pursue would be to distinguish between
her true and her "imaginary" dominions, and to sacrifice the lat-
ter to the former.2
Consistently with this conclusion, he made some far-reaching
recommendations. The central one was to rearrange the frontier
presidios in such a way as to form a cordon of fifteen strongholds
placed at regular intervals between Bahia del Espiritu Santo, in
Texas, and the head of the Gulf of California, with San Antonio
de B6xar and Santa F6 as outposts. This line he considered the
true frontier of New Spain, upon the defence of which all efforts
should be concentrated.3
This central recommendation involved radical changes in Texas.
Those parts of the province that lay beyond San Antonio de B6xar
he regarded as only "imaginary possessions," and he, believed
that, considering the pressing need elsewhere, they should be aban-
doned. San Saba, he said was at the mercy of the Comanches
and their allies, Orcoquisac was at best of little use, and Adaes
was bringing to a close a career that had been unfortunate
from the outset. His first recommendation immediately affecting
Texas was, therefore, that San Saba be deserted; that the presidio
and mission of Orcoquisac be either extinguished or removed to a
place somewhere 'in the neighborhood of B6xar and Bahia del
Espiritu Santo; and that Adaes either be annexed to the govern-
ment of Louisiana, or that it be extinguished and the settlers
there brought near B6xar, or if they preferred, allowed to settle
somewhere in Louisiana.4
1Rubf, Dictamen, section 25.
2Tbid.
Bancroft, North Mexican States and Texas, I, 585; Rubf, Dictamen,
section 17.
'Dictamen, sections 17, 20, 25. The proposals are not given in the or-
der of the document, but rather in that determined by the view-point of
this paper.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 9, July 1905 - April, 1906, periodical, 1906; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101036/m1/80/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.