and consulting their own convenience in the matter.[1] Revilla Gigedo therefore determined to form general archives in which were deposited all documents of importance pertaining to the tribunals and other branches of administration, without any expense to the crown.[2]
The intendencias established by his predecessor continued unchanged during his administration, except that he ordered the intendencia of San Luis Potosí to comprise the territories of Coahuila and Texas, the intendente himself to act as subdelegate in regard to all contentions arising on questions of exchequer and war. In accordance with instructions from the crown commissioners were sent to explore the portion of Texas near the confines of Louisiana to determine whether it were convenient to extend the limits of the latter territory to the river Sabinas.[3]
While the viceroy, faithful to his trust, was improving the condition of New Spain, the tempest of the French revolution was raging in its greatest fury, and Louis XVI. was no more. Though most of the oidores were inimical to the viceroy, they vied with each other in representing to the people that the imprisonment and execution of the French monarch was a transgression against laws divine and human. Moreover the English colonies of North America had recently shaken off their allegiance. The authorities began to tremble; and to increase their alarm, from the mother country came secret reports that among the merchandise shipped to the colonies were {{hws|numer|
- ↑ The reader will remember the loss of the valuable manuscripts, taken from Boturini during Fuenclara's administration, which could only be attributed to the carelessness of the secretaries.
- ↑ It was the custom of the viceroy to drop in unawares upon the government employés when they least expected him. In this manner he visited the tribunals, treasury, acordada, and other offices, where he had found the archives in dire confusion.
- ↑ 25 The governor of Louisiana reminds us of the times of Nuño de Guzman, He was removed by the viceroy for having killed in cold blood five friendly Lipan Indians, who were on a visit at his own residence, and also for other grave offences.
