The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 10, July 1906 - April, 1907 Page: 25
ix, 354 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Louisiana-Texas Frontier.
The Representation' begins by reviewing the mission of M.
Livendais to Vera Cruz and the cases of Blancpain and the other
intruding Frenchmen, and utters a warning against permitting
similar encroachments beyond the River of the Adaes or Mex-
icano.2 The author mentions the "strict union of the two crowns"
and the desire of the Spanish sovereign to preserve peace through-
out his dominions, although unforeseen accidents might prevent
this. The p-ossibility that France might emerge successfully from
its present conflict with England3 suggested the danger that when
freed from menace in the north and east, France might not content
itself with Louisiana alone, but might look with longing upon a
province (Texas) whose natural wealth more than equalled the
French Canadian possessions. This possibility led the author to
suggest a plan for definitely fixing the limits while the relations
between the two governments were still those of close friendship.
The writer believed that on the Mexican frontier the Mississippi,
at least as far as the Red River, would constitute the best boundary
between the colonial possessions of the two nations. From the
mouth of the Red, that river, as far as its main fork in the country
of the Caddoes,4 should continue the boundary, separating the
French Indians from the Spanish Apaches, and also leaving under
knowledge of local conditions in Texas. It is true that the general dis-
cussion, as well as the two references just mentioned, seem to imply a
broad international outlook, hardly to be expected in a mere provincial
governor. This character may have been added to the original report by
way of vice-regal comment. It is perfectly permissible, then, to assume
that Martos was the author of the original representation, which was in-
corporated in a later report of the viceroy, Amarillas, or his immediate
successor. It is in this form only that the document is known to us.
The suggestion might naturally arise that this document was possibly
fabricated after 1803, in order to support Spain's territorial pretentions.
Neither external facts nor internal evidence lend any color whatever to
this suggestion. We may reasonably conclude that the memoir was for-
warded by Governor Martos from Texas previous to 1760, and that
shortly after that date it was incorporated in a vice-regal report to the
council of the Indies.
"The Representation proper comprises some nineteen paragraphs of
Document LXX, Historia XLITI.
'The name Mexicano was later uniformly applied to the Sabine. Adaes
was situated some distance to the east of the river, but notwithstanding
this position, the name might easily be applied to the Sabine as well as
that of Natchitoches to the Red. Each was the most important post in
the vicinity of its nearest river. Cf. Stoddard, Sketches of Louisiana, 145.
'This expression tends to support the view that the Representation was
composed before 1760.
4The Caddodachos or Caddodaquious. The point indicated is the de-
flection of the Red from the easterly course to one almost south.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 10, July 1906 - April, 1907, periodical, 1907; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101040/m1/33/?rotate=270: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.