The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 10, July 1906 - April, 1907 Page: 14
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Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
Bienville the arrival of the Spaniards. Despite Bienville's protest,
the latter proceeded to reoccupy the various missions and posts
formerly belonging to them, although the French commandant at
Natchitoches wished them to await the return of Saint Denis.
Some little exchange of courtesies for the purpose of spying out
each other's strength resulted in the decision of each, in accordance
with definite instructions from the home governments, to commit
no overt act of hostility, but to restore the status quo of 1719.
Thus the French did not hinder Aguayo in rebuilding the pres-
idio of A'daes within seven leagues of Natchitoches, and at the
same time they remained equally undisturbed within their post.
It is true that Bienville, then acting as governor of Louisiana, op-
posed this movement, but Saint Denis on the frontier and the
Western Company at home were equally concerned to re-establish
the Spaniards in their vicinity, so the protests of the governor
counted for naught.
The reoccupation of Adaes in 1721, and the resulting establish-
ment during the following year of a post on Espiritu Santo
Bay, emphasized the permanency which the authorities of
New Spain wished to impart to the organization of Texas. The
attempt to preserve as an aboriginal wilderness the country be-
tween themselves and the nearest European colonists had failed;
so, then, there was no recourse but to carve out a buffer province
from the territory of the Indians. The danger that threatened
from LaSalle became a serious menace in the person of Saint
Denis with his double-dealing policy, and, therefore, within less
than a decade the outposts of Spanish civilization must advance
from the Rio Grande to Adaes, in order to confront on the re-
motest confines of the viceroyalty the invasion that seemed to en-
danger the mines far within the interior. Neither France nor
Spain effectively occupied the country to which each laid claim;
but the reoccupation of Adaes by the Spaniards and the unmo-
lested continuance of the French at Natchitoches-both as the re-
sult of direct orders from the home governments-constituted a
sort of informal acknowledgment that these posts were for the
future to mark the respective limits of Texas and of Louisiana.
Meanwhile, farther within the interior, -the French and Span-
iards were marking out lines of colonial expansion which though
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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/m1/22/?rotate=90: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.