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Tlie Beginnings of Civilized Life in Texas, 1731-1745
twenty-five to fifty men, by enlisting the settlers of Natchitoches. 16 Through the winter, spring, and summer the French kept up the work and by August, 1736, the new fort and quarters for the soldiers had been practically completed in spite of heated protests and remonstrances. Relations between the two garrisons had become strained to the breaking point, but the impotence of the Spaniards prevented an outbreak. The rage of Gonzalez knew no bounds. In a letter to Sandoval he declares that protests are useless, that the move should have been opposed by force from the beginning, that he has ordered all communications severed, and that only an appeal to arms will ever drive the French out now.17 At the height of the controversy, just when Gonzalez was on the point of making an appeal to force in order to chastize the daring insolence of the French, a most severe blow was dealt to him. His daughter, Victoria, eloped with a soldier from the post of Natchitoches. This incident was an awful shock to his pride, which embittered the loyal commander's last days. In a pathetic letter to Governor Sandoval, the aggrieved father recounts the outrage and emphatically declares he has disowned his daughter who has brought shame upon his graying hair. He explained how a certain French soldier named Berban, much older than his daughter, had fallen in love with Victoria; how the lover had tried to get Father Fray Vallejo to intercede with him (Gonzalez) for the girl's hand; how Father Vallejo had refused to have anything to do in the matter; how then, Berban and two companions had come in person to see him and to ask for the girl's hand in marriage. He could never consent to their union, he said, because of his position and the great difference in their ages. Furthermore, he said, "I do not deny that he may be of unquestioned nobility, but even if he were the noblest of Frenchmen, I still would object to have my blood mingled with his." A few days afterwards, on Sunday, April 8, 1736, Gonzalez and his family attended Mass. After the service the lieutenant governor stopped to converse with the Padre. In the meantime, Victoria, previously advised, left church by the side door which led to the blacksmith shop, where she joined Berban and three companions, who quickly conducted her to a waiting canoe on a nearby stream, and sped away to Spanish Lake 16 Gonzalez to Governor Sandoval, December 27, 1735. A. G. ,iJ,/., Historia, vol. 524, pt. 3, pp. 910-9 I I. 17 Gonzalez to Sandoval, August 29, 1736. A. G. ,Jf., Historia, vol. 524, pt. 3, p. 915.
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