Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/365

Rh a comparatively short period, and with so little bloodshed. True, here and there the natives were obstinate and unwilling to submit to the strangers, and in several instances Spanish settlements were attacked by the nomad tribes still scattered in the recesses of their mountain retreats. Thus it became necessary at times to send a force against them. This, however, seems never to have been done unless the Indians first gave sufficient provocation by their hostile attitude. Indeed, as a rule Escandon managed the aborigines with great skill and judgment, never resorting to hostile measures when with inducements and promises he could attract them to the missions, after which they would generally become good settlers. It is evident that this leader pursued a wise policy in making the lot of the subjugated natives as comfortable as possible. We find no signs of encomiendas or congregas, the same policy being observed as in Sierra Gorda. It is indeed refreshing to record a circumstance of this nature—so much at variance with the general conduct observed by nearly all the conquerors and pacificators of earlier times—and even at the present day the name of Escandon is esteemed and honored in Tamaulipas.

Many other settlements and missions were founded during the second expedition, the details of which are similar to those of the first, and of little interest to the general reader. All these new settlements, as I have mentioned, were placed in charge of a military commander, while one or more Franciscan friars took charge of each mission. Thus the government of the new colonies was at first purely military; yet it cannot be denied that, for the time being, and under a man like Escandon, this was the best fitted to keep the Indians under subjection, and to prevent civil dissensions among the colonists themselves. At all events we do not hear of any abuses committed by the commanders appointed by Escandon, and the progress of the colonies evidenced the success of the system.