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Frenclt Settlement and Spain's Renewed Interest
Veracruz with a load of merchandise, which its commander, M. Jonquiere, was to exchange for cattle and other necessaries. M. Jonquiere was par- ticularly directed to try to secure the free entrance of French vessels into the ports of Mexico. But the high hopes of the governor to estab- lish trade relations with New Spain were blasted by the cold reception accorded to his emissary. The French vessel was not permitted to enter farther than the roadstead, where it was allowed to load only such sup- plies as were necessary for its return trip, while the proposals for recip- rocal trade were haughtily rejected, the viceroy declaring emphatically that the ports of New Spain were closed to all foreign commerce. 63 Having thus failed to open trade by sea, there remained but one other possibility to carry out his instructions. It was at this crucial moment that there came into the hands of the puzzled governor a letter written two years before by an aging but hopeful missionary, who since 1694, had waited patiently on the outskirts of Coahuila for an opportunity to return to the Tejas. Father Hidalgo, despairing of ever being able to arouse sufficient interest among Spanish officials to allow him to go back to his beloved neophytes to reestablish a mission, decided to write a letter on January 17, 1711, to the Governor of Louisiana, inquiring about the welfare of the Tejas and deftly asking for his cooperation in establishing a mission for these Indians. To make certain that the letter would reach its goal, Father Hidalgo made three copies which he sent by d'ifferent routes."' No sooner did Cadillac read this curious letter than he saw his oppor- tunity. He was perfectly willing to help the Spaniards establish a mission among the Asinais, if by this means he could secure the greatly needed supplies for the growing colony of Louisiana from northern New Spain. "To secure this desirable end, and to open the way for a profitable traffic in French merchandise with the markets of Coahuila and Nuevo Leon were the designs of Cadillac in responding favorably to the petition of Hidalgo." 65 No time was lost in organizing an overland expedition osten- 63 The practice of sending a vessel loaded with merchandise and a heart-rending message of distress was common to the French governors and had been tried with little success on three previous occasions, in 1709, 1711, and 1712. When this vessel arrived, the viceroy was particularly sensitive because he had been ordered by royal ced11la on May 1 x, 1712, not to allow any foreign vessel under any pre- text to enter the ports of Mexico and to give no aid or supplies on any pretext whatsoever. Consulta al Consejo de Indias, April 26, x 712. A. G. /., /ndiferente
General, I 36-4-4 ( University of Texas Transcripts). MLe Page du Pratz, Histoire de la Louisiane, I, 10. 65Clark, op. cit., VI, 9.
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