The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 6, July 1902 - April, 1903 Page: 15

Lou is JacIl ereau de Sai n t-Denis.

Rio Bravo del Norte, he had continued his course thither."'
He was requested also to dictate a formal narrative of his journey,
which should be taken down in writing and submitted, together
with his passport, to the fiscal. This writing, it was intended,
should be an exhibit of the purpose and events of the expedition,
with a description and map of the route followed. But Saint-
Denis discreetly refrained from making a more explicit statement
of his intentions, and related only such events as would not tend
to prejudice his cause, concerning himself rather to describe in
detail the different stages of his journey and the physical charac-
ter of the country through which he had passed. With considera-
ble tact he emphasized the "natural affection" which the Indians
had for the Spanish, and their desire to have the friars return and
re-establish missions among them. He omitted to account for the
year and nine months that had elapsed since he set out from
Mobile; said nothing of the post established at the Nachitoches;
and forgot to mention the several months' sojourn of his party
among the Asinais, and their lively trade in cattle. Evidently he
would have made it appear to his inquisitors that the journey from
Mobile to the Rio Grande had been continuous, and that nothing
detrimental to their interests had occurred on the way.
When the Declaracid' had been prepared, a translation of it,
with the map and all the documents relating to the province of
Texas, was submitted to Espinosa, the fiscal, in order that he might
formulate therefrom a dictamen embodying his opinion and rec-
ommendations in the matter, to be laid before a junta de guerra.
To this council, called to meet August 22, 1715, Espinosa pointed
out2 with much plausibility the results which would follow this
French incursion. The French had opened a route by which the
commerce of the northern provinces might be diverted from its
usual channels and eventually destroyed; they had laid out a road
to Coahuila, and it would be but a matter of a short time till they
discovered the mines of Nueva Estremadura, Viscaya, and Parral,
and they had gained such a knowledge of the country and the ways
'Extract from a letter of Cadillac to his government, giving the sub-
stance of a message sent by Saint-Denis from the City of Mexico. Margry,
VI 196.
2Dictamen Fiscal, Texas MSS., 126 vuelta.