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Frenc/r, Intervention in Spain and Its Reaction in Texas
would be a pity to let insistence on trifles ruin so excellent a record of faithful service as Salcedo had. 20 When the messenger from Nacogdoches arrived in San Antonio on September 2, Cordero had not yet received the report of the auditor, nor the orders for the formal arrest of D'Alvimar issued on August 23. The governor, therefore, found himself sharing Guadiana's predicament when the French general first made his appearance in Nacogdoches. The next evening, while still pondering the course of action he should follow, the orders of the commandant general of August 23 arrived at eleven o'clock. He had no choice in the matter now. He was to place D'Alvimar under arrest as a prisoner of war, seize his papers, and hold him after a preliminary examination until further instructions. While the French general was leisurely making his way to San Antonio, Cordero called a Council of War for September 5. Lieutenant Colonel Simon de Herrera, governor of Nuevo Leon and commander of all Spanish forces on the frontier, Mariano Varela, captain of San Juan Bautista, Captain Miguel de Arcos, commander of the Nue\"O Santander militia, and Cordero met in the governor's home on the appointed day. Governor Cordero informed them of the arrival of D'Alvimar in Nacog- doches on August 5, his impatience at having to wait for the com- mandant's decision, his recent departure on August 29 as a voluntary prisoner, and of the orders concerning him issued by Salcedo on August 23. He asked the Council members to examine all the documents in the case and recommend what he should do with D'Alvimar upon his arrival in San Antonio. After due deliberation, the Council agreed that D'Alvimar's conduct in Nacogdoches, his lack of a Spanish passport, and his impudent letter to the commandant general-which he had sent unsealed-proved conclusively the suspicious character of his mission, and deprived him of all rights which voluntary prisoners could claim. In view of these facts, the Council concluded that it would be best to send a guard to conduct him safely to San Antonio, where he was to be informed officially that Ferdinand VII was the only legitimate king of Spain and that in Ferdinand's name the Spanish nation had declared war on France. He was then to be advised that he would be held as a prisoner of war, and was to be ordered to turn all his papers over to the governor. The Council further recommended that the governor examine his papers before forwarding them to the commandant general in order to determine whether or not they contained any information that might
20 D'Alvimar to Salcedo, August 29, 1808. Nacogdocl,es Arcltwes, XI, pp. 104-5.
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