Bernardo
Galvez sat upright, his face stern, his look commanding. He was every inch
of him a Governor General.
"Gentlemen," he said speaking in precise English, "a charge was made in
this chamber some days since, a charge involving the integrity and loyalty
of a high officer in the service of Spain, Don Francisco Alvarez. This
charge was made by five men and youths from the new region called by
themselves Kentucky and known here as Kaintock, but they brought little
proof to support it."
Francisco Alvarez moved his chair, and a look of relief came over his
face. The opening promised well. The expressions of Henry Ware and Oliver
Pollock did not change, and Bernardo Galvez continued:
"I could not hold an officer of Spain, one high in the service, upon such
charges, when they were without sufficient support, and hence, as these
five men and boys had committed acts of violence upon Spanish soil and
against Spanish subjects, I sent them to a military prison, pending
further disclosures if there should be any, and I have held Don Francisco
Alvarez in New Orleans in order that he might clear his good name of these
charges and of certain talk that has been afloat concerning him."
Alvarez stirred again and his expression changed slightly.
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