CHAPTER II
THE PERMANENT OCCUPATION OF TEXAS, 1715-1716
The arrival of St. Denis and Medar Jalot in Mexico City did not exactly create a sensation, the viceroy and other Spanish officials having been aware of the activities of the French since the time of their departure from Mobile, thanks to the timely warnings sent by the Governor of Pensacola, Don Gregorio Salinas Varona, but fully conscious of the menace which this incursion represented to the interests of the king and the integrity of New Spain, they were prepared to make a thorough investigation of the true motives of St. Denis' expedition before deciding on a definite course of action. The viceroy questioned the prisoners closely on several occasions concerning the object of their mission. In answer to all the questions put to him, St. Denis uniformly asserted that he had been sent by the Governor of Louisiana in quest of Father Hidalgo and to secure some horses and cattle of which the people of Louisiana were in great need and for which they were willing to pay in silver or in mer- chandise; that not having found the Padre among the Tejas as he had expected, and learning that he was at the Rio Grande, he had continued his march to that place. 1 Not satisfied with the verbal reply, the viceroy ordered him to make a formal statement in writing, giving all the details connected with the expedition. This was to be submitted to the Fiscal, together with his pass- port, a map of the country over which he had traveled, and all available information then in the office of the viceroy concerning Texas since 1688. St. Denis made his declaration on June 22, 1715, and that same day, Gerardo Mora translated it, as well as the passport, into Spanish, and sent it immediately, with all the additional material, to the Fiscal as ordered. St. Denis' declaration. St. Denis proved himself a real diplomat in the account of the journey. He declared he was captain of the presidia of San Juan (Biloxi) located on a small stream of that name, which ran from the Mississippi to Lake Pontchartrain; that having been called to lExtract from a letter of Cadillac, giving the substance of a report sent to him by St. Denis from Mexico City. Margry, op. cit., VI, 196. St. Denis could not have been very closely guarded as he wrote to Cadillac on at least one other occa- sion from Mexico to keep him informed of what was transpiring there.
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