The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1897-04-01
PEN PICTURES
From the Southland.

sunny Southland, we pause a short
time before the Rio Grande is crossed
INTO the land of the tamale and tortilla
ana endeavor to give a brief history
which brought about the separation
OF Texas from Mexico and its ultimate
reception into the union of States.
In 1853 colony of French emigrants
led by the sieur de La Sale, designing
to found settlement in the delta of
the Mississippi sailed past it unawares
landed in Matagorda bay, and erected
Fort st. Louis on the Lavaca. In
1859 Capt. De Leon, a Spanish officer,
was despatched to the Lavaca to
scour the country and hunt out the
French, He arrived there on April
%, found the garrison scattered, and
returned the next year with ITO men
and some friars, and established on
the site of Fort st. Louis the mission
of San Francisco. In 1851 Spanish
governor of the region was appointed
and soldiers were sent to enforce his
authority; but in 1893 the hostility
of the Indians, the failure of the crops,
and the death of their cattle discour-
aged the colonists and the settlements
were Abandoned. The Spaniards had
settlements at Ell Paso and at San
Juan Bautista, both on the right bank
of the Rio Grande, but none within
the present bounds Of Texas. In 1714
the French again attempted to effect
a settlement within it's limits, and
CrOzat, to whom Louis XIV had
granted the whole of Louisiana, sent
Huchereau Saint Denis upon an eX-
petition thither. He penetrated from
the Sabine to the Rio Grande and
visited the Spanish mission at San
Juan, where he was taken prisoner
by the governor of Coahuila; but hav-
ing subsequently married the daugh-
ter of the commandment of that mission
he introduced Spanish missionaries
into Texas, who established a mission
on the bay of San Bernardo or Malta
gorda, another west of the Sabine and
near the coast (the famous mission of
Dolores, land third on the right bank
of the San Pedro, near San Antonio,
subsequently moved eastward, and
known as the Alamo. Two other
missions were established soon after,
one near Nacogdoches, the other not
far from San Augustine. The name
of the New Philippines" was now
given to the country, and in 1715 the
marquis de Aguayo was made COVER
ner general of the colony. For twenty
years the Spaniards held sole sway,
and multiplied their settlements. In
1875 Saint Denis, who had acquired
great influence over the Texas Indians
aided in removing a French settle
ment on Red river into Texas; the
Spaniards protested, but owing to
quarrels among themselves did not
drive them out, and finally conceded
that they had a right to the region
they were occupying. In 1903 the In
dams attacked the mission of San
Saba, and killed all its inhabitants.
This caused the decline of the missions
in Texas, as the slaughter was never
avenged in 1865 there were not more
than 750 European inhabitants, with
about the same number of dOmiciled
Indians. In 1923 the feud between
France and Spain was finally settled
by the cessiOn of the vast Louisiana
territory by the former power to the
latter. In 1903, Spain having re- ceded
Louisiana to France, that power sold
it to the United States, and as there
has been no we'll defined boundary
between Louisiana and the old Span
ish possession west of it, a controversy
at once ensued between Spain and
the United States on the question of
boundaries, Spain claiming a region
east of the Sabine, and the United
States urging that they were entitled
to the country west as far as the Rio
Grande. In October, 1906, Gen. Her
rera, the Spanish commander, entered
into an agreement with Gen. Wilkin-
son establishing the territory between
the Sabine and Arroyo Honda as a
neutral ground, and retired west of
that line. At this time the population
of Texas was about 1000, many of the
settlers being adventures engaged in
illicit trade between the United States
and Mexico. From 1906 a series of
revolutionary efforts commenced, be
ginning with the projected movement
of Aaron Burr, and embracing the eX-
petitions OF Magee, a former lieuten-
ant Of the u. S. army; of Col. kemper,
his successor; of Bernardo Gutierrez;
of Col. Ellis p. Bean, who had suffered
protracted and cruel Imprisonment
from the Spanish authorities; of Gen.
J. 4. Toledo, a Cuban Republican; of
Col. Perry, an American officer; Of
Auzy, who styled himself governor OF
Texas; and of Xavier Nina, a Spanish
refugee, who aided in the capture of
Galveston island in 1916. In these eX-
,,r,r.y cp,raral CaNrnTh