288 The Winning of the West 



should be explained to settlers who did not profess 

 the Catholic faith. He ordered, moreover, that no 

 preacher of any religion but the Catholic should be 

 allowed to come into the provinces. 52 The Bishop 

 of Louisiana complained bitterly of the American 

 immigration and of the measure of religious tolera- 

 tion accorded the settlers, which, he said, had in- 

 troduced into the colony a gang of adventurers who 

 acknowledged no religion. He stated that the 

 Americans had scattered themselves over the coun- 

 try almost as far as Texas and corrupted the In- 

 dians and Creoles by the example of their own rest- 

 less and ambitious temper; for they came from 

 among people who were in the habit of saying to 

 their stalwart boys, "You will go to Mexico." Al- 

 ready the frontiersmen had penetrated even into 

 New Mexico from the district round the mouth of 

 the Missouri, in which they had become very nu- 

 merous; and the Bishop earnestly advised that the 

 places where the Americans were allowed to settle 

 should be rigidly restricted. 53 



When the Spaniards held such views it was ab- 

 solutely inevitable that a conflict should come. 

 Whether the frontiersman did or did not possess 

 deep religious convictions, he was absolutely certain 

 to refuse to he coerced into becoming a Catholic; 

 and his children were sure to fight as soon as they 

 were given the choice of changing their faith or 

 abandoning their country. The minute that the 

 American settlers were sufficiently numerous to 



M Gayarr<, III, p. 387. M Do., p. 408. 



