Foreign Cownization of Texas, I820-I835
18r
The Government of the United States, he maintained, would not be able to prevent its citizens in this remote area from invading Texas and New Mexic~granted that it desired to. The glowing reports of Pike and his successors had long since fired the imagination of the restless pioneer. A wave of emigration, as a consequence, had been set in motion throughout the South and West of the United States, led by settlers hungry for fertile lands. To contain this threatening flood of immigrants there were two solitary outposts, one in the vicinity of Natchitoches and the other at St. Louis. It was futile, Latour pointed out, to expect that these .determined settlers could be effectively kept from the rich lands and the beckoning fields of Texas by such phantom forts. This relentless movement towards the Spanish provinces presented a real threat to the interests of Spain in America. It was, in fact, far more dangerous than an invading army, for, once these pioneers occupied an area, they never surrendered it. Many Indian tribes, more- over, were in turn being steadily driven westward, and were likewise casting covetous glances upon the boundless plains beyond the Red River, where herds of buffalo roamed. Merchants and traders envisioned in the development of these provinces, marts of trade and busy ports of infinite possiblities offering enormous profits and great riches to the daring. Latour considered as imperative taking immediate steps to dam this swollen stream of immigrants by establishing without delay a chain of military outposts along the frontier spaced not too far apart. Each garrison would become the nucleus of a settlement. Back of the first line of defense--designed to stop further incursions, to stop illicit trade, and to control the Indians-a group of colonies could be developed with Creoles from Louisiana. These former subjects of Spain, all Catholics, would welcome an opportunity to build new homes in Spanish Texas. If modest assistance were given them, they could be moved in and used as defense against further intrusions. In this connection Latour mentioned the fact that there were also several sedentary Indian tribes who hated the Americans for driving them from their homes. They, too, could be utilized to defend the Spanish frontier, provided they were granted lands to establish homes! Interest of G01Jernor Mardnes in cownisation. When Commandant General Arredondo suggested that the thinning ranks of the Texas 9 Papel de John Williams sobre proyectos revolucionarios contra esta America, Habana, April 8, 1817, A.G. I., Audiencia de Mexico, Papeles de Es/ado, Nu111. 41.
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