Frcnc/e, Intervention i11 Spain and I ts Reaction in Tezas
35 I
M. de Salcedo. Infractions of the carefully drawn regulations have already been noted in connection with the development of Villa de Salcedo and the persistent attempts to occupy Orcoquisac and Atascosito. Other violations during this year (1808) should be cited to illustrate the various ways in which many undesirables succeeded in evading the immigration regulations of the commandant general, who had to depend on his subordinates in Texas for their effective observance. The commandant general became alarmed early in 1808, when he learned through Father Solana, who was ministering to the soldiers and their families at Atascosito and Orcoquisac, that there were in that region numerous English and French settlers, perhaps squatters, who could not speak a word of Spanish. He immediately inquired of Cordero why he had permitted such a situation to arise, since he had repeatedly issued strict orders forbidding the establishment of any settlers in the area. Cordero disregarded the question of the nationality of the immi- grants-the real issue--and explained that the families to which Father Solana referred, were not settled in that region, but were there only temporarily, waiting to secure means of transportation to move into the interior. 32 It was this willingness to relax the observance of the regulations that made possible the entrance of many immigrants, who were later to cause Spain much trouble. Another interesting example illustrating the carelessness of Cordero and the new governor in admitting suspicious charar~ers 1s that of Miguel de Larrua and his companions. At the beginning of 1808, a party of eight, including one woman and one child, landed at Atascosito. Investigations disclosed that Larrua, who claimed to be a Catholic and a native of Vizcaya, had no papers to prove either contention. He said that he had been educated in France; had come to Louisiana; and, with the consent of the commander of Nacogdoches, had moved (in 1798) to that post, where he had resided for many years. Cordero had signed his passport on February 6, 1807. Larrua brought with him his son, who had been baptized in Nacogdoches, and an Italian mansen·ant named Rumanoli. When asked for his certificate of baptism, Rumanoli told a lengthy story to explain the reason he could not produce one. Juan Eugenio Michamps, a native of Paris, was another member of the party who had to explain his inability to produce his baptismal certificate. He declared that he had been induced to come to Texas by the king's "N. Salcedo to Cordero, February 13 1 1808; Cordero to N. Salcedo, March 14 1 1808. Blxar Archives.
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