Last: Filibustem,g E:cpeditwns and Independence, 18q-1820 155
deemed advisable to vacate the camp and fall back upon Galveston to await more recruits. 17 One reason for the decision to abandon their romantic venture was the disapproval of the enterprise by the United States. To understand this, it is necessary to glance at the United States' Spanish policy. Tlie Gralunn mission. Monroe's interest in the progress of the Revolu- tion in Texas and Mexico ever since its inception has already been noted. The new Secretary of State John Quincy Adams shared Monroe's hopes for annexation of as much Spanish territory as circumstances might permit. The completion of a treaty between the United States and Spain had long been delayed over the issue of the American claims to Texas as part of Louisiana. The Lallemand undertaking, conse- quently, assumed significant international proportions. State officials did not know whether the exiled French officers in Texas had the tacit consent of the Mexican Revolutionists or of Spanish officials. In either case, whether they helped hold Texas for an independent Mexico or for Spain, their presence would make more difficult the annexation of the province to the United States. Perhaps the Secretary of State viewed the French intrusion and the occupation of Galveston by the Lafitte brothers and their piratical followers as an opportunity to clarify the position of the United States respecting the occupation of the Gulf area by non-Spanish forces. The problem raised by the activities of the exiled French officers was bluntly presented to the State Department by a veteran frontier expan- sionist. Joshua Child wrote to Adams in the spring of 1818, urging the occupation of Texas in order to prevent it from falling into the hands of Spanish Royalists or Mexican Revolutionists through the assistance of these French refugees. Quite frankly, Child suggested that the best course to pursue would be to settle the province with those who could and would defend it for the United States. 11 Viewed in this light, the Lallemand enterprise assumed such im- portance that it was the only subject of discussion by Monroe's Cabinet on May 13, 1818. After serious consideration, the Cabinet proposed sending a confidential agent to ascertain the true purpose of the enter- prise. They recommended that the envoy warn the intruders that they were trespassing on United States territory. 1' 11 Joseph and Ratchford, Tl,e Sto,-~ of Cl,am'f> d'Asile, 145-147. 11 Joshua Child to John Quincy Adams, March 28, 1818, Mis&1l/a,uQl#S L,11,,-1, N.A. W. 19 John Quincy Adams, Memoif's, IV, 91.
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