The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 12, July 1908 - April, 1909 Page: 155
332 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Notes on Clark's "The Beginnings of Texas."
155
It may be noted now that it was the 1685 cedula that set Father
Posadas at writing his memorial, as he tells us himself,' and which
encouraged Father L6pez to ask for fifty-one missionaries to work
among the tribes of the Rio Grande region and central Texas.2
For the story of the search by land for the La Salle party, Dr.
Clark missed one interesting original source that was already
printed, though rare, when he wrote. His chief authority was the
Massanet letter to Sigiienza,3 from which we get the impression
that Massanet was the prime mover in the De Le6n expedition of
1688 across the Rio Grande to secure the Frenchman, "Juan
Enrique." But from the autos, or sworn statements of all the
official acts attending the expedition, which include the diary of
the journey, we get an entirely different idea as to the source of
De Le6n's information that the Frenchman was across the Rio
Grande, no mention being made in them of Massanet. While the
two accounts may not be incompatible, they convey very different
impressions. Besides, the autos give much additional information
about the doings of Juan Enrique among the Indians where he
was found."
Our notion of the personality of Father Massanet has hitherto
been gathered chiefly from his own writings and those of Teran,
who was unfriendly to Massanet. A document has recently come
to light in the Mexican archives that tells us something additional
of his career before he became connected with the Texas enter-
prises. This, too, is written by someone evidently not an ad-
mirer of Massanet, and pictures him as a vain and headstrong
character, who had been sent to the northern frontier under dis-
cipline.5
Regarding La Salle's career in Texas it may be of interest to
note-though the point did not fall within the scope of Dr. Clark's
'See his Ynforme in the Archivo General de M6xico, Historia, Vol. III.
'See his Representaci6n dated March 26, 1686, in the Viage que a Solic-
itud, etc., cited above, p. above.
'See reference given above.
'These autos are printed in Portillo's Apuntes para la Historia Antigua
de Coahuila y Texas, Saltillo, 1888, pp. 224-237. The original manuscripts
are still in existence in the archives of the State of Coahuila.
'The manuscript referred to is a report of February 10, 1762, to the
Comis.sary General, Fr. Manuel de Najera, by the religious of the convent
of San Francisco, Guadalajara. It is preserved in the Public Library at
Guadalajara, MSS., Vol. 19.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 12, July 1908 - April, 1909, periodical, 1909; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101048/m1/173/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.