Our Catliolic H e1·itage in Texas
302
The petitions were sent to Commandant General Salcedo, who replied immediately that he was referring the whole matter to the king. He suggested that Despallier appeal to the new commandant of the Eastern Interior Provinces, General Grimarest, who was expected to arrive soon. But Grimarest never came, and it was almost a year before the king finally took action. He instructed the new governor, Antonio de Cordero, to permit Despallier and his colonists to settle on the most suitable location on the Trinity. The governor was careful, however, to warn the officials not to allow anyone to enter the province as a settler whose loyalty or integrity was questionable. Useless precaution. In abandoning Salcedo's policy of refusing foreigners permission to settle on the frontier so far from Spanish officials, the king had unwittingly thrown open the floodgates. A few months later he opened the gates still wider when he authorized the Port of San Bernardo. Salcedo issued a proclamation in consequence of this royal order. In it he stated that His Majesty was mindful of the hardships experienced by the inhabitants of Texas in securing necessary supplies and in exporting their products because of the great distance to Vera Cruz, the nearest Gulf port, and, therefore, had decided to open San Bernardo Bay as a means of communication and trade for the Province of Texas. 33 The king, in spite of the oppo- sition of his experienced commandant general, had been induced by Despallier to grant both the settlement and the port. Barr's Orcoq11,isac settlement contract. At almost the same time that Brady and Despallier were promoting their colonization plans, William Barr, Indian agent for Spanish officials in Nacogdoches, conceived the idea of establishing a settlement on the site of abandoned Presidio Orcoquisac (near present Liberty). He wrote Don Nemesio Salcedo that it would be well to reoccupy the presidio with settlers in order to prevent unlicensed traders from clandestinely visiting and establishing trade with the Indians in the vicinity of the mouth of the Trinity. He offered to start the settlement immediately with 40 of his own Negroes who could begin clearing the ground, and to bring 200 families from Louisiana within two years. He took occasion to ask permission to sell in Florida the horses obtained from the Indians. He desired to continue purchasing in New Orleans gifts for the Indians, and requested permission to bring the goods in his own vessels to Orcoquisac, should his proposed settle- ment be approved. 33 Salcedo to Cordero, January 1, 1805; Cordero to Salcedo, May 20, 1806, trans- mitting the text of the royal order of September 8, 1805, concerning the settlement on the Trinity; Proclamation of Nemesio Salcedo, February I I, 1806. Bexar Archives.
' I ' l'
•: I
i I
I ' I I, ! f
·i f ii i I , ' . I I
I i:
j, .l .
•
Powered by FlippingBook