Frenc/1, /11ter-,.Jention in Spain and Its Reaction in Te:ras
341
to San Antonio, where they were to remain until further instructions. Failure to present a passport would be sufficient reason to order them out.•. Rumors about the character and importance of the expected agent increased the apprehension of Salcedo. It was said that Alvina (later ascertained to be General Octaviano D'Alvimar) was a relative of Napoleon; that, prior to the transfer of Louisiana, he had been sent to Santo Domingo to help put down a rebellion; that he had been com- missioned to secure aid from Caracas, Cartagena, and Santa Fe for the French; that he had since returned to Havana, and was now ready for new duties. 9 These rumors were not entirely unfounded, for D'Alvimar had gained considerable experience both in Europe and America, and was particu- larly fitted for the mission entrusted to him. He was related. not to Napoleon, but to General Le Clerc, whom he had accompanied on the · unsuccessful expedition to Santo Domingo. It was in a futile attempt to secure aid for Le Clerc that he had visited Caracas and other colonial cities. Vidal, the Spanish vice-consul at New Orleans, informed of his presence by Wilkinson and Claiborne, wrote directly to the viceroy of Mexico to warn him of the proposed visit of the dangerous agent. Vidal described him as "a man of talent, high enterprise, with no morality; cruel, and with his apparent and assumed affability, capable of insinuating himself into the hearts of the most imperturbable, and of playing upon the ignorant at will." 10 It is not strange then that Salcedo should have repeated on July 12 his instructions of May 27, and added that, even if General D'Alvimar presented a passport. he was to be arrested upon arrival and held until further instructions. This order was to be applied to the companions of the general, as well as to any other suspicious foreigner who presented himself on the frontier. 11 Before these last instructions reached Nacogdoches, Captain Jose Maria Guadiana found himself face to face with D'Alvimar. A scouting party returned from the Sabine with the general on August 5, 1808. Guadiana was puzzled as to the course he should pursue. The man's name was not Alvina, he found, nor was he an Italian. Guadiana wondered if the orders of May 27 applied in this case. \\'hen the puzzled frontier commander asked for his passport. D'Alvimar, feigning 1 N. Salcedo to Cordero, ·May 27, 1808. Nacogdoches Arclrhttfs, XI, pp. 81-82. 9 Cavo, Tres Siglos de Mexico, 258-259; Alam.in, Hislori<1 tie il/e:cico, I, 297. lOCox, West Florida Co11/roversy, 313-314. 11 N. Salcedo to Cordero, July 12, 1808. Nacogdocltts Arc/rives, XI, pp. 91-92.
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