Om· Catltolic Heritage i11 Tr:ras
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islands had been known since his first e11trada, declared Escandon, and had been described minutely in his report of the previous year. He seriously doubted that they could be occupied, because they were too barren to sustain life. If foreign intruders had visited the area recently, he would have been apprized of the fact by the settlers, who had moved into that region since the establishment of La Bahia on the San Antonio and by others examining the land for settlement of the proposed Nueces River. Nevertheless, he assured the viceroy that he would make a thorough i1n-es- tigation immediately upon his arrival. 24 Before the facts could be verified, the rumored plans 'of the English intrusion reached the king's ear and filled his advisers with deep concern. In August, 1766, Governor Ulloa wrote the king that on July 16, the commander at Natchitoches had received a letter from a French trader, which stated: "It is said the English are to establish a line of forts every fifty leagues. They are going to construct a fort at San Bernardo Bay with one thousand men and two hundred negroes." With other discom- forting details., the correspondent closed with the significant phrase: "Adieu le Mexique, si Jes mari~es, Francaises et Espagnoles, ne previent le desein.ms Ulloa hastened to observe, however, that the commander at Natchitoches had also heard that the viceroy had already given orders to Colonel Diego Ortiz Parrilla to organize an expedition to expel the English from Isla Blanca (present Padre Island) near the mouth of the Rio Grande, known also as Rio de! Norte. This stream he estimated to be some one hundred thirty leagues west of New Orleans. Ulloa explained that he had been inclined to disregard the rumor, until the appearance of three English sailors in New Orleans, who claimed that they had run away from the fort which was being built on San Bernardo Bay. He pointed out that the Rio Grande permitted access to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and that if the English succeeded in their plans, they would surround Louisiana on the east and west. 16 The astonishment and apprehension of Spanish officials only grew when the same news was transmitted by the Conde de Fuentes, Spanish Ambas- sador in Paris. Copies of the two letters were immediately sent to the viceroy on February 10, 1767, with a sharp rebuke for his failure to report . "Escand6n to the Viceroy, November 8, 1765. Provi,rcias /nternas, Vol. I Io, pp. 232~234. 15 "Goodbye to Mexico, if the French and Spanish navies do not prevent the design." J6Ulloa to Arriaga, August 26, 1766. A. G. I., Audiencia de Guadalajara, 104-6-13 (Dunn Transcripts) 1767, pp. 39-41. Copy al~n 1 - "rales Cedulas, 1678-1772 ( Bolton Transcripts) pp. 149-1 S1.
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