The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 10, July 1906 - April, 1907 Page: 61
ix, 354 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Louisiana-Texas Frontier.
time they also became objects of suspicion to the Spanish officials
in Texas,1 but their close connection with the latter saved them
from the fate of Nolan.
That they were not the only Americans in this region before the
transfer of Louisiana is shown by the presence of others, in 1803,
on the Washita, on the Red, where one pioneer reports thirty years'
residence, and even west of the Sabine on Ayish Bayou. In all of
these districts they seemed already to occupy the best industrial
situations." The success of these early pioneers largely influ-
enced Governor Carondelet to support the explorations of James
Mackay along the Missouri and Platte,8 in order to forestall the
Americans in this region and to drive out the British. It may
also have influenced Watkins, Sebastian, Bastrop, and their asso-
ciates, in 1799 or 1800, in their proposal to obtain a grant of land
along one of the rivers of upper Louisiana.'
The policy that permitted the irruption of an element generally
regarded with apprehension was the mistaken one of hoping that
the American pioneers might be used to develop a portion of the
country as a bulwark against further encroachment of their coun-
trymen. This was the gist of a report by Pontalba to-Talleyrand,"
who believed that after one generation the country could be held
permanently for France. By 1794 the Texas border authorities
were warned to keep a sharp lookout for copies of El Desengaro
del Hombre (The Undeceiving of Man), a book condemned by the
Inquisition." In this same year Carondelet believed that a revo-
lution was impending in all Spanish America, unless the Ameri-
cans could be kept away from the Mississippi, and was setting on
foot preparations to explore the upper waters of the Missouri and
a possible route to the Pacific.' This latter measure resulted in
Mackay's expedition.
The danger threatening Spanish dominion was mentioned at
'Valle to Elguezabal, February 1, 1805, B6xar Archives. Cf. Sibley,
supra.
'Robin, loc. cit., 332, Annals of Congress, 9 Con., 2 Sess., 1078, 1901.
'See map in Perrin Da Lac,, Voyages dans des Deux Louisianes, etc.,
Paris, 1805.
'See Gayarre, IV; also the Spanish transcripts in the possession of
Mr. Luis M. Perez of the Library of Congress.
'Gayarr6, IV 418ff.
6Order of de Nava, November 21, 1794, Bexar Archives.
'Report of Carondelet, November 24, 1794, in American Historical Re-
view, II 476, 478.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 10, July 1906 - April, 1907, periodical, 1907; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101040/m1/69/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.