P.,r1ms 01,• :\[mAnE.\t: BcoN.\PARTE L.uu11
a better one, most of them relinquishe,1 the plan of their establishment, and sold their grant or lands to a company of speculators, who it is ~aid, ma,le considPrable profit from the operation. . This ~ale haviug been effected, :::ome of the unhappy fugitives went to went to [s-ic] Galveston, where, Genl Humbert had e:::tablished him- sci I'; others to the number of from two to three hundred, went at the bPg-inning of April under the direct.ion of General Lallemant, to found a pmely french colony ten or twelve leagues west of Gah-eston be- tween the rivers Nate (Neches?) and the Trinity in a deserted part of the province of Texas, the possession of which remained disputed by the :-lpaniards the Indinns and the Americans. The proceeds of the sale of their Alabama lamls and some advances made by the Chiefs of the enterprise enabled them to defray the expense of fitting out tlw expedition and forming an establishment. Arrived at this territory which they named the "Land of Refuge,'' the exiles established a military form of Government, distributed them- seh-es into bands each of which had a captain, and into which they could admit none but Frenchmen, or persons who had sen-eel in the Arm.". of France. They made a division of Lands among themseh-es and ~ach officer was allowed twenty (arpents) with all that was needed to commence the cultivation. A few days after their establishment they published a manifesto, in which declaring themselves an Incle- pen [den] t State, they announced that they would respect the laws ot the nations, neighboring to them, but that they would defend them- selves at the peril of their lives, ngainst all unjust aggressions. This manifesto drew .to them companions in misfortune. The fertility of the soil, the mildness of the climate, and the vicinity of the river were favorable to the duration of their colony, but they had no women; they were also but little accustomed to the labour of opening -new lands. A hundred slaves which they had purchased ran away to the Indians, Despondency seized upon the new colonists. Besides, their arrival had excited, especially among the Spaniards in the neighborhood, some uneasiness which their manifesto ,ms not cal- culated to dissipate. A rumor preYailed that the TC'xian refugees held correspondance with the malcontents, in Mexico_, with a design of pene- trating there some day to establish a. sovereignty o.f which the new colony was but the advance guard. 'l'he viceroy of :Mexico, Apodaca, determined to destroy this establishment like that of Galveston which served as an asylum for pirates which had come in large numbers from Saint Domingo. Six or Seven hundred Spaniards, conducted by Gen- eral Castenada presented themselves before Gah-eston, which was evacua tecl. The colonists of Texas, still poorly estahlishecl, cliYiclcd, already dis- couraged, and be~i<lcs, being disturued by the Indians, ahanclo11<:cl the "Champ d' .Asile" which thus exi~t<'cl only for about eight month~. Several Fre11clnne11 who were thrre returned to Alahamn, whNP the\" establi;;,;hed themseln--:, with the 1wrmi,,:::ion of the UnitPd ~lnfl,~ in tli"e fertilP- countn· of Tombi!!heP. It ii: to h,~ n•mnrke,l '·that thP ::-:pani~h (;p1wral <·har!!P(I with th,, conduct of this exp<'clitio11 had (kdnre,1 thnt ho did t~ot intend to commit hostilities a~:ti1~st the l'11it<'d Stah,:::, a n•t·y ~lrm,_!!1' prucPcd- illg: 8imilar to thnt ol (,p11 t-> 1·n! .l , w k,.:1111. a11d al,.:o .-:trn11~1• tltnt tlw 1:oYi
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