the French of Louisiana; my own inclinations lead me equally to afford them all the services that depend upon me. But I am compelled to say, that your arrival at the Nassonite village surprises me much. Your governor could not be ignorant that the post you occupy belongs to my Government, and that all the lands west of the Nassonites depend upon New Mexico. I counsel you to advise M. De Bienville of this, or you will force me to oblige you to abandon lands that the French have no right to occupy. I have the honor to be, etc., DE'ALARCONNE.

“Trinity River, May 20, 1719."

To this the French commander sent the following reply:

"MONSIEUR: The order from his Catholic majesty, to maintain a good understanding with the French of Louisiana, and the kind intentions you have yourself expressed towards them, accord but little with your proceedings. Permit me to inform you that M. De' Bienville is perfectly informed of the limits of his Government, and is very certain that the post of the Nassonites depends not upon the dominions of his Catholic Majesty. He knows, also, that the province of Las Tekas (Texas), of which you say you are Governor, is a part of Louisiana. M. de La Salle took possession in 1685, in the name of his most Christian Majesty; and since the above epoch, possession has been renewed from time to time. Respecting the post of the Nassonites, I cannot comprehend by what right you pretend that it forms a part of New Mexico. I beg leave to represent to you, that Don Antonio De Minor, who discovered New Mexico in 1683, never penetrated east of the province, or the Rio Bravo. It was the French who first made

alliance with the savage tribes in this region; and it is natural to conclude that a river that flows into the Mississippi, and the land it waters, belongs to the king my master. If you will do me the pleasure to come into this quarter, I will convince you I hold a post I know how to defend. I have the honor to be, etc.,

"Nassonite, July 8, 1719."

DE LA HARPE.

The above correspondence gives the gist of the controversy between France and Spain in reference to the ownership of Texas. It happened, fortunately for the French, that during the same year in which the above correspondence took place, D'Alarconne, not having been re-inforced, as he requested, so that he could expel the French from East Texas, resigned his office and returned to Mexico. And the same year, another company of French, under Mons. Belisle, in sailing for the mouth of the Mississippi, landed, as La Salle had done before them, in Matagorda Bay. (See Belisle). Belisle having thus formed an acquaintance with Texas, and a league with some of the civilized Indian tribes, was sent back in 1721, by the enterprising De Bienville, to plant a French colony on the waters of Matagorda Bay. After a feeble effort to maintain a settlement, the project was abandoned, and with it the French claim to Texas.

In 1768, France transferred her Louisiana possessions to Spain; but in 1800, Spain retroceded the country to France; and in 1803, Bonaparte sold it to the United States. After the latter Government obtained possession, the claim to a part of Texas was again revived under the right acquired by its occupancy by La Salle.

While these disputes were pending, the settlements of the French in Louisiana, and of all the Spaniards in

Texas, were threatened with utter extermination by a formidable Indian league, in 1729. The numerous and powerful tribe of Natchez, in conjunction with kindred tribes in Louisiana, succeeded in enlisting the Comanches and Apaches in the attempt to drive from the country at once, both the Spaniards in Texas and the French in Louisiana. Fortunately this plot was disclosed to Saint Denis by some of his friends among the Indians. He immediately mustered a small force and entered the territory of the Natchez and defeated them before they had time to rally for a fight. At San Antonio, Governor Bustillos was engaged in introducing and settling the new families from the Canary Islands, and the Indians were troublesome and defiant until 1732, when he organized a military expedition and entered their territories and chastised them.

CHAPTER III.

MISSION ESTABLISHMENTS-FIRST MASS-MISSIONS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDERADAES, AES, ALAMO, CONCEPCION, LA ESPADA, GUADALUPE, LA BAHIA, LA TRINIDAD, LORETTO, NACOGDOCHES, ORQUIZACO, REFUGIO, ROSARIO, SAN FERNANDES, SAN JOSE, SAN SABA.

THE period in which the Spaniards occupied Texas

1690 to the Mexican Revolution in 1820-has been not inappropriately called "The Mission Period." The discovery of the American Continent opened to the crowded population of Europe a new door for enterprise; and they were not slow in entering it. The adventurers who first visited this country had two objects in view. The first was to add to the dominions of their respective sovreigns; and the second, to extend the Christian religion. The establishment of missions accomplished both these purposes possession of the country was secured, and provision made for the conversion of the aborigines. Our knowledge of the history of these grand old structures in Texas, is very meager; but we give in a condensed form all the facts accessible.

In 1690, Alonzo De Leon, as we have seen, when on his route to Texas, founded on the Rio Grande the Mission and then the Presidio of San Juan Bautista. Having arrived in the neighborhood of La Salle's abandoned fort, he projected a mission to be called San Francisco, after the founder of the order of Saint Francis. The first mass was celebrated by the fathers accompanying De Leon, on the 25th of May, 1690. The mission was never built.