The more reckless and lawless adventurers from time to time pushed southwest, even toward the borders of Texas and New Mexico, and strove to form little settlements, keeping the Spanish Governors and Intendants in a constant fume of anxiety.  One of these settlements was founded by Philip Nolan, a man whom rumor had connected with Wilkinson’s intrigues, and who, like many another lawless trader of the day, was always dreaming of empires to be carved from, or wealth to be won in, the golden Spanish realms.  In the fall of 1800, he pushed beyond the Mississippi with a score or so of companions, and settled on the Brazos.  The party built pens or corrals, and began to catch wild horses, for the neighborhood swarmed not only with game but with immense droves of mustangs.  The handsomest animals they kept and trained, letting the others loose again.  The following March these tamers of wild horses were suddenly set upon by a body of Spaniards, three hundred strong, with one field-piece.  The assailants made their attack at daybreak, slew Nolan, and captured his comrades, who for many years afterwards lived as prisoners in the Mexican towns. [Footnote:  Pike’s letter, July 22, 1807, in Natchez Herald; in Col.  Durrett’s collection; see Coue’s edition of Pike’s “Expedition,” LII.; also Gayarre, III., 447.] The menace of such buccaneering movements kept the Spaniards alive to the imminent danger of the general American attack which they heralded.

    Spain’s Colonial system.

Spain watched her boundaries with the most jealous care.  Her colonial system was evil in its suspicious exclusiveness towards strangers; and her religious system was marked by an intolerance still almost as fierce as in the days of Torquemada.  The Holy Inquisition was a recognized feature of Spanish political life; and the rulers of the Spanish-American colonies put the stranger and the heretic under a common ban.  The reports of the Spanish ecclesiastics of Louisiana dwelt continually upon the dangers with which the oncoming of the backwoodsmen threatened the Church no less than the State. [Footnote:  Report of Bishop Penalvert, Nov.  I, 1795, Gayarre.] All the men in power, civil, military, and religious alike, showed towards strangers, and especially towards American strangers, a spirit which was doubly unwise; for by their jealousy they created the impression that the lands they so carefully guarded must hold treasures of great price; and by their severity they created an anger which when fully aroused they could not well quell.  The frontiersmen, as they tried to peer into the Spanish dominions, were lured on by the attraction they felt for what was hidden and forbidden; and there was enough danger in the path to madden them, while there was no exhibition of a strength sufficient to cow them.

    Spain Wishes a Barrier against American Advance.

The Spanish rulers realized fully that they were too weak effectively to cope with the Americans, and as the pressure upon them grew ever heavier and more menacing they began to fear not only for Louisiana but also for Mexico.  They clung tenaciously to all their possessions; but they were willing to sacrifice a part, if by so doing they could erect a barrier for the defence of the remainder.  Such a chance was now seemingly offered them by France.