Reference: Spanish Archives of New Mexico, Series I,
Twitchell 1203, Reel 6, Frames 648-650.
©Patricia Sanchez Rau
ARCHIVE 1203
Public Survey Office
Date: No date listed (According to Univ. of Arizona
Database – around 1818)
Rough draft of a petition by Manuel
Marquez y Melo asking that Jose Balcayo be compelled to deliver to him the
Hacienda de la Rosa de Acuña, and render an accounting of his management
thereof.
Marquez y Melo had been appointed
to succeed Balcayo
No signature.
Don Manuel Marquez y Melo of this
vicinity for doña Maria Recuenco Sanz
de la Blanca, residing in Spain, by virtue of her general power of attorney
which has been substituted in my favor by the Attorney General, who resides in
the Capital of Mexico, Lt. Colonel don
Carlos Moya, and which comprises the copy which, in twelve (12) useful leaves,
I present before your Excellency to the best possible form according to the
law.
I declare that by reason of the
demise, intestate of don Julian
Antonio Cuevas, former resident of this locality, legitimate son of the Señora
constituent, all of his estate passed into her possession and dominion,
including the country hacienda, named “El Pozo de Acuña”, situated in this
jurisdiction, which is at this time, in the charge on don Jose Balcayo.
After the changes undergone in the
administration and management of this estate, placed at times in charge of the
trustee and at other times in charge of attorneys which the owner and heiress
formerly had, she finally established it in the possession of her grandson, Lt.
Colonel don Carlos Moya, who, is
employed in the service of the king, resides in Mexico, under the circumstances
that the said hacienda was in the possession of the Rev. don Jose Maria Carrion, who formerly managed it with the consent
and by disposition of the Superior Court, and especially of the state of the
deceased beyond the seas in that capital, where the said Moya will present the
power of Attorney given to him by his grandmother, doña Maria Recuena Sanz de Blanca, with full authority to take
possession of her “Hacienda del Pozo” manage it, demand accounts of those
having had charge of it, rent or sell it, and all the rest as included in said
power of attorney, for his approve, and to make use of significance of said power, herewith attached
is a legal copy.
Moya, who, on account of his
pre-eminent military service has not
been able to proceed to take charge of said hacienda and its immediate
management, endeavored to substitute, as he did, the power of attorney to don Jose Maria Carrion, who, although he
already had it under his care, had to obtain it anew and judicially, according
to the mandate of the said superiority; and it was executed by this court,
commissioned for all things pertaining to this property; and as a short time
Moya found out he could realize his idea of putting it into other hands, he
revoked the substitution given to the Rev. Jose Carrion, executing a new one in
favor of the Lt. Colonel don Eugenio
Teran and on Jose Balcayo, the former a resident of San Luis Potosi, and the
latter of this villa Real as shown in the said copy of the power of attorney.
As under those circumstances, the
Lt. Colonel Teran, was, and even remained, in Mexico without being able to
execute here the substitution in his favor it was passed to the second, the
aforesaid Balcayo, who proceeding to fill his duties, made an agreement with
the Presbyter, Carrion, for the delivery of the aforesaid Hacienda del Pozo,
who convinced that he had the authority by the substituted power of attorney
and the orders received from the General Attorney Moya, to render and present
the respective accounts of his administration, proceeded to accomplish the
delivery to the said Balcayo. Following
this solid beginning that while it has not been solemnly mortgaged, according
to the law, and Moya not having said anything contrary to his instructions, as
imparted and issued to me; and it being clear that until now has been and still
is, truly dependent upon or subject to Moya in the administration and
management of said hacienda consequently, he is bound to deliver it to whomever
he may have desired to substitute recently by the same power of attorney with
its accounts and the rest connected with, and corresponding to the hacienda.
Subsequently, I have been invested
with the faculty of the power of attorney substituted in my favor by the
General Lieutenant Colonel Moya, so that I may receive the hacienda from
Balcayo and the rest who have administered it and had it in charge, under the
observance of the instructions and orders with which I now find myself invested
for all of it. But having requested don Jose Balcayo to make delivery of said
hacienda and all its appurtenances, as is his duty and lawful obligation, he
has refused under the shadow of the deceiving pretexts which he interprets in
his three letters, which, with du oath, I enclose written on six useful leaves. But he has nothing to look into or oppose,
even when it concerns the purchase of the property attempted by Teran, but not
yet culminated, and it will never be accomplished unless conducted by me,
according to the faculties and dispositions of the General Administrator, so that
he will deliver all interest and necessary accounts which have come under his
management by virtue of his substituted power, later retracted. It is well known that, according to the axiom
of the law, the right of faculty in all things must, by the same principle,
that they are enacted and established, be dissolved. Well, this being so, as an inveterate
practice, can Balcayo believe himself to have a well-established right in his
resistance to deliver the accounts into my keeping, even though the sale of the
hacienda to don Eugenio Teran should
already have been accomplished, if it had not been for the orders of the
General Attorney of the Señora heiress, to deliver it to the purchase and that
by the same order and terms as received from the Rev. Carrion, it is now
demanded of him? His bold resistance is
manifest. Something like this occurred
to Moya, who, as a precaution, demanded from the proper Superior Tribunal
beyond the seas, where the proceedings of this testament are pending, the
protection of its authority and exclusive faculties in these cases. That Superior Tribunal, considering the
justness of Moya’s solicitation, decided totally in his favor, as proved by
superior proceedings contained in the dispatch, which is also enclosed with the
solemnity of law, on three useful leaves, delivered to this court, that he may
be able to protect, by his authority and procedure, the just solicitations of
the heiress beyond the seas, until they are made effective according to the
instructions of said dispatch.
Depending on the indisputable, well
found merits stated, I apply to the justification of your Excellency,
requesting by virtue of it, or in compliance with the order by the said
Superior Court of estates of the deceased across the sea, in its said superior
dispatch, that you deign to press his decision, in order to force don Jose Balcayo to proceed, without any
excuses or pretexts whatever, with the delivery of the “Hacienda del Pozo de
Acuña with all its properties and annexed interests, and that within the term
you may be pleased to assign him, he shall render the accounts of the term of
his administration and management, in order to effect, with an audit, its
revision explanatory notation and closing of accounts, compelling him
executively, in case of necessity, as ordered by the courts, and as is
lawful. In which terms:
Your Excellency, I request that you
decide favorably regarding my position, which by my oath, is not in malice but
necessary, etc.
No Signature.
Reference: Spanish Archives of New Mexico, Series I,
Twitchell 1203, Reel 6, Frames 648-650.
©Patricia Sanchez Rau
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