While Nacogdoches was rubbing her sleepy eyes and staring at the
_Americanos_, who kept coming into Texas in spite of the scant welcome
they got there, a man was strutting about the court at Madrid in Spain,
carrying Texas, so to speak, in his pocket. Manuel de Godoy, called _El
Principe de la Paz_ (The Prince of the Peace), who, from a private in
the King’s Guards had come to be a grandee of Spain and first minister
of the King’s council, was a corrupt courtier, cordially hated by the
people, but a favorite both of the King and the Queen.[14] They had
given him the highest honors and titles possible in Spain and finally
they had made him a present of the territory of Texas. To this princely
gift they added soldiers and ships and a large number of young women
from the asylums in Spain. Godoy in his dreams already saw himself
ruling in a semi-barbaric fashion over his kingdom in the “golden west.”
[Illustration: Old Stone Fort at Nacogdoches.]
The attitude of Napoleon Bonaparte toward Spain put an end to this
curious scheme. Soldiers and ships were ordered to another service; the
young women were returned to their asylums; and Godoy was sent into
dishonorable exile with his pocket empty, at least of Texas.
Spain, tired of the troublesome present she had received from Louis the
Fifteenth, one fine day in 1800 handed Louisiana back to France. But
before the French colonists had time to rejoice, Napoleon in 1803 sold
them and their province to the United States. Again they were very
angry; but, as before, nobody cared in the least what they thought or
how they felt.
The old dispute concerning the boundary between Louisiana and Texas was
revived by this transaction. Spain claimed eastward as far toward the
Mississippi River as she dared. The United States would gladly have
reached out westward to the Rio Grande. The quarrel at last grew so
bitter that both countries prepared to go to war (1806).
Nacogdoches and Natchitoches glared at each other across the Sabine
River, like two watch-dogs snarling and showing their teeth.
Antonio Cordero, governor of Texas, hurried by way of the Old San
Antonio Road from San Antonio to Nacogdoches. The lonely presidio then
fairly thrilled; for fortifications were thrown up, provisions were
brought in, and the place was put in a state of defense. Soldiers were
also stationed at the mouth of the Trinity River, at the old fort at
Adaes, and at other points. At length in August, 1806, Simon Herrera,
commanding the Spanish troops with Cordero as his second, marched in
with twelve hundred men at his back.
At Natchitoches also there was bustle and excitement. Governor
Claiborne, followed at once by General Wilkinson of the United States
army, had come up from New Orleans. Several angry messages passed
between Generals Wilkinson and Herrera, but neither would yield an inch
in his demands; and on the 22d of October General Wilkinson marched his
troops to the east bank of the Sabine River and camped there. General
Herrera’s camp was on the west bank, just opposite. The stream alone
separated the two armies. On both sides everything was in readiness for
a battle.
But in the hush of the night (November 5) the two generals met and held
a secret council. The next day (Nov. 6, 1806), to the surprise of all
and greatly to the disappointment of the American soldiers, it was
announced that the affair had been peacefully settled. A strip of land
between the Sabine River and a creek called the Arroyo Hondo seven miles
west of Natchitoches, was declared neutral ground,—that is, ground to be
occupied by neither country until the boundary line could be fixed by a
state treaty.[15]
The Americans marched away, grumbling openly; the Spanish generals,
having got more than they expected, returned well pleased to
Nacogdoches.
Nacogdoches had ceased to be simply a stopping-place for travelers; it
vied with its distant neighbor, San Antonio, in the gaiety of its social
life. The Spanish officers, especially the commandant Herrera, were
noted for their gracious and courtly manners. Some American families of
position had moved in; there was even a hotel. The presidio had become a
town.