Our Cat/10/ic Heritage in Texas
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Frencli encroachmc11ts from Louisiana. Numerous were the weighty problems which called for an immediate solution by the new ruler, but chief among these was the unsettled question of Pensacola and Louisiana. Recognizing the rightful claim of Spain to the Gulf region, the French court was the first to broach the question with an explanation of its action and a request for a free and unmolested title to the region now occupied. The Duke of Harcourt, French ambassador to Madrid, was sent a lengthy dispatch drawn up by Pontchartrain, on March 23, 1701, in which he frankly stated the position of France with regard to Louisiana. The pri- mary object in encouraging the discovery of the Mississippi had been, he declared, to aid the French settlements in Canada in securing an outlet for trade. He then went on to explain that Iberville's explorations had dis- closed the ulterior designs of the English, who had intended to take posses- sion eventually of the rich mines in New Spain. Their powerful and popu- lous settlements in Pennsylvania, New York, and Carolina made such a project feasible, particularly in the face of Spain's inability to protect her extended frontiers. Mindful of this fact and desirous of impeding a scheme so detrimental to the interests of Spain, the king of France had decided to occupy the mouth of the Mississippi and the adjacent territory to protect the frontiers of New Spain, but with no intention of doing anything contrary to the wishes of Spain. 26 The dispatch was accompanied by a copy of a memorial prepared by Iberville, who pointed out that unless France and Spain joined forces to stop them, the English would eventually seize Mexico. The possession of the Gulf region and the Mississippi by the French, he argued, was the best safeguard for the Spanish dominions in North America. He went so far as to hint broadly that Spain should give up her opposition to the colonization of Louisiana and allow France to occupy Pensacola in the event the fort be abandoned. 27 The Duke of Harcourt presented the dispatch and attached memorial and map to the young Philip V, who in turn sent the documents to the Junta de Guerra with an urgent request for the earliest possible consider- ation of this weighty matter. On June 6, this body discussed the question at length in view of all the information at hand. Three months before, in February, the ltmta had received a report of all that had transpired at Pensacola since Arriola's discovery of the French settlement, the dissatis- :6Pontchartrain to the Duke of Harcourt, March 23, 1701. Translation in A. G. I., Audiencia de Afe:rico, 61-6-22 (Dunn Transcripts). 2;~largry, Dccouvertes et Etablissemmts, IV, 543-550.
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