397
French Intervention in Spain and Its Reaction in Texas
If they had to be moved, he said, it would be preferable to order them to the interior of Mexico than to order them out of the country. 102 Foreign aggression possibilities. As the year 1809 drew to a close, fear of American and French aggression was on the increase again. In spite of the optimistic view of some local officials and their condemna- tion of the unswerving stand taken by the commandant general on immi-. grants and foreign agents, events were soon to prove that his exclusive policy was well founded. Even though both the viceroy and the Junta Sup1·e111a had supported Nemesio Salcedo, Texas officials disregarded their orders. The la.xity of the Texas officials is revealed in the case of Daniel Hughes. On October 6, 1809, the commandant general repri- manded Bonavia for having permitted Hughes to visit Chihuahua. Not only had he been known to be an agent of the United States, but he had also been allowed to succeed in returning with a large number of horses. What was more reprehensible was the fact that he had been given the opportunity to obtain full information on the military strength of the Interior Provinces. 103 At about the same time, Don Luis de Onis, unrecognized minister of Spain to the United States, wrote the viceroy that it was common knowledge that many Louisianians were entering the Spanish dominions, claiming that they were Spanish subjects and consequently had the right to emigrate to Texas under the terms of the treaty of 1803, if they found the change of government in Louisiana unsatisfactory to them. Onis warned the Viceroy, Lizana, that under this pretext Napoleonic agents and unscrupulous Americans were gaining admission as immigrants. He advised greater Yigilance, therefore, along the Texas frontier. 104 A month later he hastened to inform the viceroy that he had just learned that a group of discontented Spaniards had joined a number of French and American insurrectionists in New Orleans, who were planning to start a revolution both in Spain and Mexico. 105 Francisco Saavedra, Secretary of State, also sent warnings from Spain to Viceroy Lizana concerning the activities of revolutionary agents in the United States. He reported that a certain Francis Belmont had recently left France for Philadelphia with instructions from Napoleon l0ZBonavia to N. Salcedo, November 23, 1810. Nacogdoches Archives, XV, pp. 57-58. lOlN. Salcedo to Bonavia, October 6, 1809. Bi:car Arcl,ives. 1 04Luis de Onis to Lizaiia, October 21, 1809. A. G. "1., Operaciones de G,urra (Barker Transcripts). 1osonis to Lizana, November 24, 1809. Ibid.
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