Our Catlzolic Heritage in Texas
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rials and letters, that he had done this for Alberola, because he was indebted to him for past services. Portugal was an officer in the custom- house of Zacatecas. 71 When the fiscal looked over the testimony obtained by Clavijo, he rendered an opinion that the evidence thus far received showed clearly that the whole Alberola plan had been drawn up by an impostor; that the real author was Portugal in spite of his denials; and that Fray Alberola had been merely an instrument in the scheme devised by the ambitious intriguer. In view of these facts, it was not necessary to continue the investigation. The fiscal thought it best to drop the whole matter and to inform the king of the result of the measures taken to determine the validity of the proposal which had unjustly occupied the attention of His Majesty and of government officials. 71 Viceroy Marquina reported the whole matter to the king on May 27, 18o2. He pointed out that the suspicions of the Fiscales had been aroused by the second statement of Alberola; that when in the third report, he had made such absurd requests as permission for free trade, complete control of all administrative, religious, and military matters in the area to be settled, the right to reward merit and to punish misconduct they had been seriously alarmed; and that when they learned that he sought what was equivalent to more than one hundred thousand pesos a year, they had become convinced of the absurdity of the whole plan. In view of these circumstances, the viceroy apologized for having permitted such a hoax to be perpetrated and assured the king all further action in the matter would be dropped. 73 This plan completely discredited the mission system. In the future, officials in New Spain and in Spain itself turned to colonization as the solution of the problem of holding the vast frontier of Texas and New Mexico against the advance of the American pioneers, who, since I 795," had obtained the right of navigation on the Mississippi and had begun to penetrate into the Spanish territory occupied by that numerous group of Indian tribes generally designated by the Spaniards as the Indians of the north. 71 Investigation conducted by Manuel Clavijo, January 25, 1802. Ibid., pp. 90-93. 72 Dictamen del Fiscal, January 31, 1802. Ibid., p. 93. 73 Felix Berenguer de Marquina to Pedro Ceballos, May 27, 1802. A. G. I., Pape/es de Estado, Mexico, Leg. 10, Num. IIJ (Dunn Transcripts, 1795-1817, PP· 41-43). 74 Treaty between the United States and Spain signed on October 20, 1795. It defined the boundary and provided for the free navigation of the Mississippi River. Fortier, HiJtory of Louisiana, Vol. 2, 162-163.
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