The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 44, July 1940 - April, 1941 Page: 81
546 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Documents Relating to Pierre Lafite
object] if I did not succeed in attracting to our party one of
the persons who were in the secret of all the plans and trusted
in part with their execution; for this purpose, after having
made a most scrupulous examination of the character of each
one of those who composed the secret councils which they had
and still continue, I directed myself to that one [Pierre Laffite]
whom I thought the most proper and the easiest [to approach],
and I labored accordingly. But my desires were not completely
realized until the arrival in this [city] of Don Angel Benito
de Ariza'3 who was in complete agreement with me. Then I
succeeded in bringing the said person before the Reverend
Father Friar Antonio de Sedella in order to repeat before the
said Padre what he had promised to me as well as to Ariza
in the different private conferences we had had with him. This
step appeared to me even more necessary when I thought that
this was a new means of being more certain of his promises,
so that he might at no time retract. With this assurance I
could with greater satisfaction inform you and others of His
Majesty's chiefs about what concerns them.'4 [We were] to-
gether the night of the 17th of this month in the presence of
the Reverend Father, [and] he said:
That being, as he was, informed of all the secret plans and
projects that the traitor Toledo, the insurgent Jos6 Manuel de
Herrera, and other persons had and were blustering about at
present in this city, he offered to reveal everything sufficiently
in advance so that through our effort and with the aid of our
Government they may be not only paralyzed but also entirely
destroyed. In order that there be no doubt about the certainty
of his promises, aside from the offers that he had just made
before this respectable Father, he was ready to confirm them
before any other person whom Your Highness might judge
necessary, assuring [us] that for the greater satisfaction of
our Government he was ready to submit to whatever proof
might be demanded of him on all the matters that he had
and was going to reveal.
In compensation for all of this he demanded a general oblivion
for all of the offenses he may have committed against His
Majesty and the Spanish nation; other compensation propor-
13De Ariza was an old resident of Louisiana and had served as secretary
to the consul Castill6n (de Onis to Jose Pizarro, Washington, November
22, 1818, AGI PC, leg. 1898).
"MS. partly illegible, making the translation doubtful.81
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 44, July 1940 - April, 1941, periodical, 1941; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146052/m1/89/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.