Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1858-08-21
CITY of San Antonio.

We extract the following from long nc.
count of the ancient City of San Antonio de
Bexar, in the Austin Sentinel:
The first permanent settlement Of the City
Of San Antonio. or rather, as il was then call.
ed, Of San Fernando, was made by fifteen
families from the Canary Islands. Ia 1881,
the King Of Spain, intent upon the reclamation
Of the wild lands belonging to the Spanish
Crown, and upon the general diffusion OF the
Catholic religion. sent this early band OF pio.
neers ouisgith orders TO pitch tent upon the
the head waters Of the San Antonio river
Upon the chief parsonage Of each family con.
nected with the expedition, he conferred the
proud title Of Hidalgo, which was not, as
many imagine, mere empty name; but dig
nifty, actually investing :he recipient with sin.
galar and extraordinary privileges. Among
other things, this mark Of legal favor enabled
the possessor to plead his title of Hidalgo in
bar Of any suit brought by the common citizen,
either Tor tie restitution OF property illegally
seized or for punishment of cutrages commit
ted against personal rights, life or liberty
But at the time of the Mexican revolution, the
rank Of Hidalgo was sunk into that of private
citizen, and the only distinction permitted tol
exist, were those which prevailed in the army,
or the relations which we're acknowledged be-
tween the freeman and the Peon-his servant.
Hence the peculiar social, civil and political
marking the ari,tocracy and
nobility of the land abolished and known no
more TO prevail in Mexico and Texas.
Ia he year IT'S, the several missions, erec-
ted IN or near the city, were founded for the
civilization and salvation of the wild Indians.
These missions were under the charge Of the
fgnciscans, an order of friars Independent of
DC ocular church. The celebration Alamo,
within whose mission walls in years gone by,
Catholic priests were wont to instruct and adj
minister tie rites Of symbolic religion to peni.
tent and awe-struck savages, was situated on
he east side of the river, now within the city
units, and belonged to the Mission of San An
onio de Valredo. In the valley below the city
night be seen in solitary grandeur, us they
oomcd forth to catch the first beams Of the
sun and to reflect his last rays, the
he solid walls of Conception, San Jose, San
Juan and la Espada, all of nearly equal date
with the origin of the Alamo.
These Missions was secularzed in the year
1893, by virtue of which act their hands rever.
ted to the Spanish Crown. For some time,
the city oil San Antonio, Under the old regime
enjoyed an era Of unexampled prosperity. Its
population i, said to have reached MS high as
thirty thousand souls. But during the inter-
val between the revolution of 1911 or 1912 and
the independence of Texas, its greatness rapid
ly declined. The frequent irruptions of Indian
bordes from their northern hives and the con.
vulsions Of civil commoion paralyzed its ener.
yies and depopulated many Of its finest edif-
ces.
Since annexion however, the tide has again
aiken another direction. Commerce reanima-
ed and revived has once more sprung. up in
Ter midst:
rade from various parts Of the State, from Mex
coand California, are sending its commodities
o her enterprising merchants while railroads
rom different points of the compass, are striv.
ng which shall first embrace the lovely Queen
If the West in their iron arms.