La Salle and the discovery of the great West - North Central ...

468 FATE OF THE TEXAN COLONY. [1689.While the King ofFrance abandoned the exiles ofTexas to their fate, a power dark, ruthless, and/terrible was hovering around the feeble colony onthe Bay of St. Louis, searching with pitiless eye todiscover and tear out that dying germ ofcivilizationfrom the bosom of the wilderness in whose savageimmensity it lay hidden.Mexico and allright, and the viceroys ofSpain claimed the Gulf ofits coasts as her own of unanswerableMexico were strenuous toenforce her claim. The capture of one of La Salle'sfour vessels at St. Domingo had made known hisdesigns, and in the course of the three succeedingyears no less than four expeditions were sent outfrom Vera Cruz to find and destroy him. TheyBcoured the whole extent of the coast,and found thewrecks of the " Aimable " and the " Belle ;" but thecolony of St. Louis, 1 inland and secluded, escapedtheir search. For a time, the jealousy of theSpaniards was lulled to sleep. They rested in theassurance that the intruders had perished, when freshadvices from the frontier province of New LeonChickasaws in the French interest. His subsequent career and thetime of his death do not appear. He seems never to have receivedthe reward which his great merit deserved. Those intimate withthe late lamented Dr. Sparks will remember his often-expressedwish that justice should be done to the memory of Tonty.Fort St. Louis of the Illinois was afterwards reoccupied by th«French. In 1718, a number of them, chiefly traders, were livinghere ; but three years later it was again deserted, and Charlevoix,passing the spot, saw only the remains of its palisades.1Fort St. Louis of Texas is not to be confounded with Fort StLouis of the Illinois.