Our Catlwlic Heritage 111 Texas
and strove constantly to disarm the enemies of Spain, obtained the services of Angel Benito Ariza, prominent merchant, to convince Picornell of the uselessness of his efforts. A few days later the M <miteur published the resignation of the recently elected president of the Interior Provinces. Humbert's plan for an immediate invasion, conse- quently, collapsed.' 5 New ,plans for occu,patwn of Matagorda. New Orleans continued to be a center of questionable plots. The schemers always hid their true purpose-sordid profits-behind the thinly veiled romantic appeal of liberation of the Spanish colonies. No other reason can be attributed to the interest shown by the pirates of Barataria, whose recognized leaders were the two Lafitte brothers. Their machinations, however, were directed to a broader goal-justification of their spoliation of Gulf commerce and the fabulous returns from illegal trade with the various warring factions. The wild enterprise of General Humbert appealed strongly to the Lafitte brothers when he first arrived in New Orleans, late in October, 1813, for American officials were beginning to hamper the activities of the pirate colony. Here was an excuse ready-made to attack the ports of Mexico. Many of the captains in Barataria were already armed with commissions or letters of marque from Cartagena. An attack on Tampico was seriously discussed. The establishment of a base at Matagorda, to which prizes could be taken for disposal, offered a most enticing inducement. Gutierrez had come· out of hiding in April; Humbert had gone early in June to Tampico to explore the possibilities for an attack; Colonel Ellis P. Bean had returned with him to New Orleans, together with Juan Pablo Anaya, who claimed to be the "official" minister of the Mexican Revolu- tionary Government to the United States. The self-appointed minister no sooner arrived than he proceeded to issue some two hundred com- missions to the pirates of Barataria. He generously authorized them to fly the flag of the Mexican Republic, which was still aborning. Enthusiasm reached a high pitch. But after Colonel Ross and Captain Patterson of New Orleans raided Barataria in midSeptember of 1814, the bandit colony was dispersed. 46 The pirates of Barataria drifted individually to New Orleans, which also saw late that fall the arrival of Humbert, Toledo, Bean, Anaya, and Gutierrez. Toledo and Anaya quickly became fast friends. Shortly 4SFor biographical data on PicorneU, see G. Warren, "The Early Career of Juan Mariano PicorneU," in Hispanic Americ°" Historical Review, XXII (1942), 57-81. 46 Warren, O'j. cu., 101.-109.
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