Our Catholic Heritage in Texas
32
patron, and that you will procure me some employment at Mobile." 75 In the meantime, the viceroy decided to have St. Denis escorted to the City of Mexico for a personal examination. A guard of soldiers was sent by the Governor of Coahuila from Monclova to conduct the Frenchmen to the capital, where they finally arrived early in June, 1715. 76 What effect was the interrogation of St. Denis and his companion, Medar Jalot, to have upon the subsequent course of the history of Texas? Was Father Hidalgo's dream of returning to the Tejas to be fulfilled at· last as a result of his letter of January 17, 17u? The answers to these questions carry us into the next chapter. In closing the narrative of this daring venture of St. Denis it is well to note here its important conse- quences for the later history of Texas so ably summarized by Dr. Clark: "The real significance of the expedition is that it determined the owner- ship of Texas. The Spanish established, by the fact of actual possession, their title to the lands east of the Rio Grande. The entrada of Captain Ramon was followed by others till a line of missions and presidios was established extending from the land of the Ays and Adays to the Rio· Grande; and the western limit of Louisiana was fixed at the Sabine. But for the menace of Saint-Denis' presence . . . it is probable that the movement to occupy Texas would not have come until much later ..• and, if we venture to speculate upon what might have happened, the whole course of history in the Southwest would have been changed." 77 75 Letter quoted by Clark, op. cit., VI, I 3-14. 76 Both La Harpe and Penicault declare that he arrived on June 2 5, but this is impossible, because he made his declarations on June 22. Le Page du Pratz places the date on June S, and this is much more likely. Only Medar Jalot accompanied him to Mexico City. Penicault stayed at San Juan but must have left before St. Denis returned, as at that time, when Domingo Ramon listed the men that set out with him on the expedition to Texas there are only three: St. Denis, Medar Jalot, and Pedro Sargen or Largen. Derrotero de Domingo Ramon, San Francisco el Grande Arc/Jive, VIII, 71. 71 Clark, op. cit., VI, 26,
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