CHAPTER I
FRENCH SETTLEMENT OF LOUISIANA AND SPAIN'S RENEWED INTEREST IN TEXAS, 1693-1714 'With the danger of foreign aggression apparently past, the ardor displayed by colonial officials in driving the French from Texas cooled considerably, and growing indifference soon caused the temporary abandonment, in 1693, of the project to occupy the province. Repeated expeditions and investigations during the preceding eight years had disclosed that the French had lost interest in the estab- lishment of a settlement in that region; that the Gulf coast, particularly that portion lying west of the Mississippi River, offered no inducement for colonization; and that the maintenance of a garrison or settlement was impracticable because of the great expense involved and the grave dangers and almost insurmountable obstacles encountered in transporting the necessary supplies. 1 The distance to the projected establishment was too great from the frontier outposts of New Spain. Loss of interest in T ezas. Up to the time of the abandonment it should be noted that it had been the colonial officials who had taken the initiative in the occupatio~ of Texas, impelled by a sense of duty to the king and to God. Their firm belief that the king's domain was threatened by foreigners, and that the establishment of missions in this remote field would bring thousands of Indians to ultimate salvation through conversion, was the driving force of the first heroic effort to establish a permanent settlement. The home government had given little encouragement at any time to the enterprise and had limited itself to the approval of such measures as had already been put into execution. Spain was too deeply involved in European poli- tics, and the rapidly declining Charles II had neither the vision to realize the importance of the movement, nor the means to carry it through. But when the immediate danger of French aggression seemed past, interest in Texas might have persisted, had it not been that the endeavors of the tireless Franciscan missionaries to Christianize the natives met 1 Testimonio de auttos sobre las prouincias Dadas Por el Emo. Seiior Conde de Calve Virrey de esta nueua Espaiia pra. los socorros y Permanencia de los Religi- osos Misioneros en la Proua. de los Tejas hasta su retirada y razones Porque se executo. pp. 71-7 5, Archivo Ge11eral de /11dias, Audie11cia de Guadalajara, 67-4-1 I (Dunn Transcripts, University of Texas). Reference to these transcripts will be hereafter referred to as D111m Transcripts. [ I ]
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