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Our Catllolic Ii eritage in Texas
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vessels were fitted out at Rochefort and the expedition at last set out from Brest on October 24, 1698. Its first destination was Santo Domingo, where it was to be joined by a powerful frigate under the command of the Marquis of Chasteaumorant, ordered there in advance to guard the fleet against the English. From here the five vessels had instructions to proceed to the mouth of the Mississippi to establish a colony. 8 Fully aware of the impotenc;e of Spain, these preparations had been carried on publicly, and no attempt was made to conceal either the desti- nation or the purpose of the expedition. A Spanish subject living in La Rochelle ,~as the first to write, on March 14, 1698, to one of the Spanish ministers concerning the matter. In his report he declared that the French were going to establish a settlement somewhere on the Gulf coast, presumably Pensacola Bay, and that families would be sent from Martinique, Santo Domingo, and Guadalupe for the purpose. 9 This infor- mation was immediately forwarded by special messenger, together with the translation of a pamphlet recently published in France, giving the details of the organization !)f a trading company for the purpose of .colonizing Louisiana under the patronage of Louis XIV. With unusual _promptness the report reached the king who, on April 1, transmitted the ,documents to the Council of the Indies. Occwpation of Pensacola Bay. The news of the designs of the French .aroused the Council to action, and the whole machinery of the govern- ment, both in Spain and in America, was at once set in motion to forestall the impending crisis. On April 7, the Council ordered a summary to be ,drawn up of all the information available on the subject; on the 12th, the matter was discussed by a special ltmta de Guerra; and on the19th, a royal cedula was issued in the name of the king. This order reviewed the whole course of events from the attempted settlement by La Salle to the new preparations now being made to renew the efforts to establish a colony on the Gulf coast, and ended by commanding the immediate occupation treal, July 16, I 661. He died July 9, 1706. A. Fortier, Histor,y of Louisiana, I, 32-33. 8 The sources for the Iberville expedition are printed in Pierre Margry, Decou- vertes et Etablisseme11ts des Fra11fais, Volume IV. Good secondary accounts are found in Fortier, History of Louisiana; Ogg, TIie Opening of tlte Mississippi, 171- 182 ; Dunn, o,P. &it. 9 Diego de Peredo to Enrique Enriquez de Guzman, A. G. I., Aitd. de Guadala- jara, 61-6-21 (Dunn Transcripts).
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