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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/7355.txt b/7355.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5ba5e2a --- /dev/null +++ b/7355.txt @@ -0,0 +1,986 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Texas, by William H. Wharton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Texas + a Brief Account of the Origin, Progress and Present State + of the Colonial Settlements of Texas; Together with an + Exposition of the Causes which have induced the Existing + War with Mexico + +Author: William H. Wharton + +Posting Date: April 22, 2012 [EBook #7355] +Release Date: January, 2005 +First Posted: April 20, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TEXAS *** + + + + +Produced by William Flis, Stan Goodman, Charles Franks and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + + + + TEXAS. + + + A BRIEF ACCOUNT + + OF THE + + ORIGIN, PROGRESS AND PRESENT STATE + + OF THE + + COLONIAL SETTLEMENTS OF TEXAS; + + TOGETHER WITH AN EXPOSITION OF THE CAUSES WHICH + HAVE INDUCED THE EXISTING + + WAR WITH MEXICO. + + + Extracted from a work entitled "A Geographical, Statistical and + Historical account of Texas," now nearly ready for the press. + + Some of these numbers have appeared in the New Orleans Bee + and Bulletin. + + 1836. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +It will be seen that the title of this little pamphlet implies more than +it contains. As war is now the order of the day, only a small portion of +the political part of the work on "Texas" is here presented. It is hoped +and believed that enough is unfolded to convince the most incredulous that +the colonists of Texas have been _forced_ into this contest with the +mother country, by persecutions and oppressions, as unremitting as they +have been unconstitutional. That it is not a war waged by them for cupidity +or conquest, but for the establishment of the blessings of liberty and good +government, without which life itself is a curse and man degraded to the +level of the brute. If the time-hallowed principle of the Declaration of +Independence, namely, "that governments are instituted for the protection +and happiness of mankind, and that whenever they become destructive of +these ends it is the right, nay it is the duty of the people to alter or +abolish them." If this sacred principle is recognised and acted upon, all +must admit that the colonists of Texas have a clear right to burst their +_fetters_, and have also a just claim for recognition as an independent +nation, upon every government not wholly inimical to the march of light and +liberty, and to the establishment of the unalienable rights of man. + +CURTIUS. + + + + +TO AN IMPARTIAL WORLD. + +No. I. + + +The unconstitutional oppression long and unremittingly practised upon the +colonists of Texas, having at length become insupportable, and having +impelled them to take up arms in defence of their rights and liberties, it +is due to the world that their motives, conduct and causes of complaint +should be fully made known. In order to do this it will be necessary to +explain the origin, progress and present state of the colonial settlements. +Without parade or useless preliminaries, I shall proceed to the subject, +as substance and not sound--matter and not manner are the objects of the +present discussion. It is known at least to the reading and inquiring +world, that on the dissolution of the connection between Mexico and Spain +in 1822, Don Augustin Iturbide, by corruption and violence, established +a short-lived, imperial government over Mexico, with himself at the head +under the title of Augustin I. On arriving at supreme power, Iturbide or +Augustin I. found that vast portion of the Mexican government, east of the +Rio Grande, known by the name of Texas, to be occupied by various tribes of +Indians, who committed incessant depredations on the Mexican citizens West +of the Rio Grande, and prevented the population of Texas. He ascertained +that the savages could not be subdued by the arms of Mexico, nor could +their friendship be purchased. He ascertained that the Mexicans, owing to +their natural dread of Indians, could not be induced to venture into the +wilderness of Texas. In addition to the dread of Indians, Texas held out no +inducements for Mexican emigrants. They were accustomed to a lazy pastoral +or mining life, in a healthy country. Texas was emphatically a land of +agriculture--the land of cotton and of sugar cane, with the culture of +which staples they were wholly unacquainted; and moreover, it abounded in +the usual concomitants of such southern regions--fevers, mosquitoes &c., +which the Mexicans hated with a more than natural or reasonable hatred. +Iturbide finding from those causes that Texas could not be populated with +his own subjects, and that so long as it remained in the occupancy of +the Indians, the inhabited parts of his dominions continually suffered +from their ravages and murders, undertook to expel the savages by the +introduction of foreigners. Accordingly the national institute or council, +on the 3d day of January, 1823, by his recommendation and sanction, adopted +a law of colonization, in which they invited the immigration of foreigners +to Texas on the following terms:-- + +1st. They promise to protect their liberty, property and civil rights. + +2d. They offer to each colonist one league of land, (4,444 acres) for +coming to Texas. + +3d. They guarantee to each colonist the privilege of leaving the empire +at any time, with all his property, and also the privilege of selling the +land which he may have acquired from the Mexican government, (see the +colonization law of 1823, more especially articles 1st, 8th and 20th.) +These were the inducements and invitations held out to foreigners under the +imperial government of Iturbide or Augustin I. In a short time, however, +the nation deposed Iturbide, and deposited the supreme executive power in +a body of three individuals. This supreme executive power on the 10th of +August, 1824, adopted a national colonization law, in which they recognized +and confirmed the imperial colonization law with all its guarantees of +person and property. It also conceded to the different States the privilege +of colonizing the vacant lands within their respective limits. (See +national colonization law, articles 1st and 4th.) In accordance with this +law, the States of Coahuila and Texas on the 24th March, 1825, adopted +a colonization law for the purpose, as expressed in the preamble, of +protecting the frontiers, expelling the savages, augmenting the population +of its vacant territory, multiplying the raising of stock, promoting the +cultivation of its fertile lands, and of the arts and of commerce. In this +state-colonization law--the promises to protect the persons and property +of the colonists, which had been made in the two preceding national +colonization laws, were renewed and confirmed. We have now before us the +invitations and guarantees under which the colonists immigrated to Texas. +Let us examine into the manner in which these conditions have been complied +with, and these flattering promises fulfilled. The donation of 4,444 acres +sounds largely at a distance. Considering, however, all the circumstances, +the difficulties of taking possession, &c. it will not be deemed an +entire gratuity or magnificent bounty. If these lands had been previously +pioneered by the enterprise of the Mexican government, and freed from the +insecurities which beset a wilderness, trod only by savages--if they had +have been situated in the heart of an inhabited region, and accessible +to the comforts and necessaries of life--if the government had have been +deriving any actual revenue, and if it could have realised a capital +from the sale of them--then we admit that the donation would have been +unexampled in the history of individual or national liberality. But how +lamentably different from all thus was the real state of the case. + +The lands granted were in the occupancy of savages and situated in a +wilderness, of which the government had never taken possession, and of +which it could not with its own citizens ever have taken possession. They +were not sufficiently explored to obtain that knowledge of their character +and situation necessary to a sale of them. They were shut out from all +commercial intercourse with the rest of the world, and inaccessible to +the commonest comforts of life; nor were they brought into possession and +cultivation by the colonists without much toil and privation, and patience +and enterprise, and suffering and blood, and loss of lives from Indian +hostilities, and other causes. Under the smiles of a benignant heaven, +however, the untiring perseverance of the colonists triumphed over all +natural obstacles, expelled the savages by whom the country was infested, +reduced the forest into cultivation, and made the desert smile. From this +it must appear that the lands of Texas, although nominally given, were +in fact really and clearly bought. It may here be premised that a gift +of lands by a nation to foreigners on condition of their immigrating and +becoming citizens, is immensely different from a gift by one individual to +another. In the case of individuals, the donor loses all further claim or +ownership over the thing bestowed. But in our case, the government only +gave wild lands, that they might be redeemed from a state of nature; that +the obstacles to a first settlement might be overcome; that they might be +rid of those savages who continually depredated upon the inhabited parts +of the nation, and that they might be placed in a situation to augment +the physical strength and power and revenue of the republic. Is it not +evident that Mexico now holds over the colonized lands of Texas, the +same jurisdiction and right of property which all nations hold over the +inhabited parts of their territory? But to do away more effectually the +idea that the colonists of Texas are under great obligations to the Mexican +government for their donations of land, let us examine at what price the +government estimated the lands given. Twelve or thirteen years ago, they +gave to a colonist one league of laud for coming, he paying the government +$30, and this year (1835) they have sold hundreds of leagues of land for +$50 each. So that it appears that the government really gave us what in +their estimation was worth $20. A true statement of facts then is all that +is necessary to pay at once that immense debt of endless gratitude which, +in the estimation of the ignorant and interested is due from the colonists +to the government. I pass over the toil and suffering and danger which +attended the redemption and cultivation of their lands by the colonists, +and turn to their civil condition and to the conduct and history of the +government. It is a maxim no less venerable for its antiquity than its +truth--a maxim admitted and illustrated by all writers on political +economy--and one that has been corroborated by experience in every corner +of the earth, that miserable is the servitude and horrible the condition +of that people whose laws are either uncertain or unknown. I ask, with +a defiance of contradiction, if ours is not and has not always been, in +Texas, the unhappy condition and miserable bondage spoken of in this +maxim? Who of us knows or can by possibility arrive at a knowledge of the +laws that govern our property and lives? Who of us is able to read and +understand and be entirely confident of the validity of his title to the +land he lives on, and which he has redeemed from a state of nature by the +most indefatigable industry and perseverance? Who knows whether he has paid +on his land all that government exacts, or whether he has not paid ten +times as much? Look at the mere mockery of all law and justice which has +always prevailed in place of an able and learned judiciary. Alcaldes, most +of them unlearned in any system of jurisprudence, and unconversant with +legal proceedings of any description, have been elected to administer a +code, scattered through hundreds of volumes and written in languages of +which they did not understand one word. + +Who among us is able to confer with his rulers; to represent his wants +and grievances; to ask advice, or recommend salutary changes? Have we had +more than one or two organs of communication with the government, and must +not they have been omniscient to have always understood the wishes of the +people, and incorruptible to have always correctly represented them? Who +of us feels or ever has felt any reliance or can place any confidence in +governmental matters, or can predict with any sort of certainty what in +this respect a day may bring forth? There are thousands of other evils +growing out of our present situation, too hourly, universally and bitterly +felt to require to be mentioned. Who will say that these things do not +exist? Who will say that we have not suffered the harassing uncertainty and +miserable bondage here represented? + +When the people of the United States commenced their war for independence +against Great Britain, the friends of Britain charged them with +ingratitude. They said that Britain had founded the colonies at great +expense--had increased a load of debt by wars on their account--had +protected their commerce, &c. This cannot be said of Mexico. Not one dollar +has she spent for Texas--not one Mexican soldier has ever fought by our +side in expelling the savages. She has given us no protection whatever; +and as allegiance and protection are reciprocal, we have a right on this +principle to cast off her yoke. However, in my next I pledge myself to +demonstrate that the Mexicans are wholly incapable of self-government, +and that on that principle we are bound by the first law of +nature--self-preservation--to dissolve all connexion, and take care of +ourselves. + + * * * * * + + +No. II. + + +I now proceed to demonstrate that the Mexicans are wholly incapable of +self-government, and that our liberties, our fortunes and our lives are +insecure so long as we are connected with them. At the onset I cannot but +advert to the spirit of prophecy and truth with which that unequalled +expounder and defender of the rights of man, Mr. Jefferson, spoke more than +18 years ago in regard to this very matter. In a letter to the Marquis de +Lafayette, dated Monticello, 14th May, 1817, he says, "I wish I could +give you better hopes of our Mexican brethren. The achievement of their +independence of old Spain is no longer a question. But it is a very serious +one what will then become of them. Ignorance and bigotry, like other +insanities, are incapable of self-government. They will fall under military +despotism, and become the murderous tools of their respective Bonapartes. +No one I hope can doubt my wish to see them and all mankind exercising +self-government. But the question is not what we wish--but what is +practicable. As their sincere friend, then, I do believe the best thing +for them would be to come to an accord with Spain, under the guarantee of +France, Russia, Holland, and the United States, allowing to Spain a nominal +supremacy, with authority only to keep the peace among them, leaving them +otherwise all the powers of self-government, until their experience, their +education, and their emancipation from their Priests should prepare them +for complete independence." Jefferson's works, vol. 4, page 303. Mr. +Jefferson well knew that from the discovery of America to the date of his +letter, the Mexicans had unfortunately been the persecuted, pillaged, and +priest-ridden slaves of the kings of Spain--a line of kings, with but +few exceptions, more inimical to the rights of man, more opposed to the +advancement of truth, and light, and liberty, more practised in tyranny, +more hardened in crime, more infatuated with superstition, and more +benighted with ignorance, than any other monsters that ever disgraced +a throne in christendom, since the revival of letters. Yes, humanity +shudders, and freedom burns with indignation at a recital of the +barbarities and oppressions practised upon the ill-fated Mexicans from the +bloody days of Cortes up to the termination of their connexion with Spain. +The produce of their cultivated fields was rifled--the natural products of +their forests pillaged--the bowels of their earth ransacked, and their +suffering families impoverished to glut the grandeur and enrich the coffers +of their trans-Atlantic oppressors. To make their miserable servitude less +perceptible, they were denied the benefits of the commonest education, +and were kept the blind devotees of the darkest and most demoralizing +superstition that ever clouded the intellects, or degraded the morals +of mankind. From this it is evident, that up to the period of their +independence, having been so long destitute of education, so long +unaccustomed to think or legislate for themselves, and so long under the +complete dominion of their liberty-hating Priests, they must have been +totally unacquainted with the plainest principles of self-government. Let +us examine what their subsequent opportunities of improvement have been. + +At the close of the revolution, Iturbide, by fraud and force, caused +himself to be proclaimed Emperor, who after much commotion, was dethroned, +banished and shot. After this Victoria was elected President, during all +of whose administration the country was distracted with civil wars and +conspiracies, as is evidenced by the rebellion and banishment of Montano, +Bravo, and many others. Victoria's term having expired, Pedraza was +constitutionally elected, but was dispossessed by violence, and Guerero +put in his stead. Guerero was scarcely seated before Bustamente with open +war deposed him, put him to death and placed himself at the head of the +government. Bustamente was hardly in the chair before Santa Anna, warring, +as he pretended, for the constitution and for making it still more liberal, +dispossessed him by deluging the country in a civil war, the horrors of +which have not at this moment ended. Since his accession we have been +woful witnesses that nothing but turmoil, anarchy and revolution have +overshadowed the land, and that at last he has at one fell stroke, with +an armed soldiery, turned congress out of doors, dissolved that body +and proclaimed that the constitution is no more. Here, then, we have a +lamentable verification of the fears and predictions of that great apostle +of human liberty, Mr. Jefferson. His prophecy in relation to the result of +their governmental experiment, implies in him an almost superhuman forecast +and knowledge of the elements essential to self-government. He knew that +they were too ignorant and too much under the dominion of their priests at +the period of their declaration, and he but too truly foresaw that owing to +the unhallowed ambition of their military aspirants, the country would be +too continually distracted with revolutions to admit of their advancement +in education or any useful knowledge whatever. Time has developed it. There +has been no attention on the part of government to schools or other useful +institutions. The present generation are as ignorant and bigoted as the +past one, and so will continue each succeeding one to the end of time, +unless some philanthropic and enlightened citizen shall arrive at power +with a purity of patriotism and reach of intellect unexampled among his +countrymen, and with energies of character sufficiently commanding to +emancipate the nation from the thraldom of her priests--to curb or kill her +countless military aspirants, thereby preventing incessant revolutions, and +thereby enabling a new generation to experience the benefits of education +and to qualify themselves in other respects for complete self-government. +I have now gone through with the administration, or rather +mal-administration, of the General Government. It is equally demonstrable +that so far as Texas is concerned, there have been equal confusion, +insecurity and injustice in the administration of the State governments. +Texas, as is known, forms an integral part of the State known by the name +of Coahuila and Texas. During the past year there were three persons +claiming and fighting for the office of Governor of this State. There was +no session of the legislature at the regular period, on account of this +civil war, and fifteen officers of the federal troops elected a governor +of their own over the head of the one elected by the people. At an +extraordinary time the legislature was convoked, and fraudulently sold for +a thousandth part of their value, millions of acres of our public domain. +This legislature was finally dispersed by the threats of the General +Government, and our Governor and one of the members were, on their retreat, +arrested and imprisoned by the troops of the permanent army--leaving us +involved in chaotic anarchy. Do not these facts conclusively demonstrate an +incapability of self-government on the part of the Mexicans? Do they not +cry aloud for an immediate dissolution of all connexion with them as the +only rock of our salvation? Yes, the vital importance of a declaration of +Independence is as clearly indicated by them as if it were "written in +sunbeams on the face of heaven." + + * * * * * + + +No. III. + +ANALYSIS OF THE MEXICAN FEDERAL CONSTITUTION OF 1824. + + +It has been wisely remarked by that great illustrator of the machinery +of governments, (Montesquieu) that there can be no liberty where the +legislative, executive, and judicial powers, or any two of them, are united +in the same person or body of persons. See Spirit of Laws, in reference to +the English Constitution. If any corroboration of this high authority is +needed, I will refer to Mr. Jefferson, and the writers of that invaluable +text book, the Federalist. Mr. Jefferson, in his Notes on Virginia, page +195, says the concentration of legislative, executive and judicial powers +in the same hands, is precisely the definition of despotism. And in the +Federalist, page 261, it is said, "the accumulation of these powers in +the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, +self-appointed, or elective, is the very definition of tyranny." In the +same great work it is clearly demonstrated, that if each department is +not so fortified in its powers as to prevent infringement by the others, +the constitution which creates them all will be worth no more than the +parchment upon which it is written. So important was it deemed by all the +states of the Union to keep these departments distinct, and in different +hands, that it has been specially provided for in all their constitutions. +See the constitutions of the different States. And yet in the face of all +this wisdom and experience, and contrary to every thing that is republican +in its nature, the framers of the Mexican constitution have reserved to +Congress the sole power of construing the constitutionality of its acts. +This, it will be readily seen, is an entire nullification of the judiciary +in all constitutional matters, and leaves the rights of the people and the +constitution itself without any other security than what is to be found +in the virtue, patriotism and intelligence of Congress. What slender +reliances, where the liberties and happiness of a nation are concerned! If +in the United States Congress should transcend its powers in the passage +of a law, the courts would declare it null and void, and bring back +Congress to a constitutional discharge of its duties. But if the same +thing were attempted in Mexico, Congress would re-enact the law, declare +it constitutional, and imprison the judge for his presumption. It appears +then, that the Mexican constitution of 1824 contains within itself the +seeds of its own destruction,--for the accumulation of legislative and +judicial powers in Congress, and the enabling of that body to violate the +constitution at will, renders it of no more avail than "a sounding brass +or tinkling cymbal." It will be no alleviation, says Mr. Jefferson, in his +work above quoted, page 195, that in the case of Congress unlimited powers +are vested in a plurality of hands. One hundred or two hundred despots are +surely as oppressive as one. Let those who doubt it turn their eyes on the +republic of Venice. In the next place I will show, that independent of this +objection, the Mexican constitution contains principles and provisions 500 +years behind the liberalized views of the present age, and at war with +every thing that is akin to civil or religious liberty. In that instrument +the powers of government, instead of being divided as they are in the +United States, and other civilized countries, into legislative, executive +and judicial, are divided into military, ecclesiastical and civil, +and these two first are fortified with exclusive privileges, and made +predominant. It is specially declared that the Roman Catholic religion +is, and forever shall be, the established religion of the land. No other +is tolerated, and no one can be a citizen without professing it. Can +any people be capable of self-government--can they know any thing about +republicanism, who will, in this enlightened age endeavor to erect the +military over the civil--to bind the conscience in chains, and to enforce +an absolute subscription to the dogmas of any religious sect--but more +especially of that sect, which has waged an unceasing warfare against +liberty, whenever the ignorance and superstition of mankind have given it +a foothold? + +Can republicans live under a constitution containing such unhallowed +principles? All will say they cannot. And if the Texan colonists are +willing to do so a moment longer than they are able to shake off the yoke, +they are unworthy the sympathies or assistance of any free people--they are +unworthy descendants of those canonized heroes of the American revolution, +who fought, and bled, and conquered for religious as well as civil liberty, +and who established the sacred principle, that "all men have a right to +worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their consciences." Yet +bad as this constitution is, it has been swept away by, if possible, a +worse form of government, the central. This system, now attempted to be +rivetted upon the people of Texas, has preserved most of the bad features +of the old constitution, viz: the preponderance of the military and clergy, +and has destroyed all of the good features, to wit: the representation of +the people through the medium of Congress, and the division of the republic +into States. The whole of the States are now consolidated into one, and +governed by a dictator and council of about a dozen, who are the creatures +of his will, and the flatterers of his lawless despotism. All of Mexico, +but Texas, has submitted to this, and she is waging a war against it with +all the energies of an infant and much oppressed people. If it be asked, +why have the people of Texas submitted so long to such a constitution, +I answer, that for the first few years their numbers or wealth did +not attract the notice or cupidity of government. 2dly, the incessant +revolutions of Mexico kept their attention from Texas for many years more. +3dly, they submitted from physical inability to resist. And 4thly, they +were determined to prove themselves a law and oath abiding people, and in +case of rupture with Mexico, to show to the world that they were not the +aggressors. This rupture has been brought about, and it is folly to think +of ever healing the breach. The constitution has been destroyed, and it is +idle to think of restoring it. If restored, I have shown that no republican +can live under it. We have no right to conclude, that if re-established, +it will be amended so as to be made more republican and more congenial +with our wishes--for in all their changes and commotions, each party +contends for the established religion--it is the last thing they will part +with--believing it to be the anchor of their hope and salvation here and +hereafter. But granting that the federal party should triumph--that the +monster centralism should be crushed, and that the constitution should be +amended so as to make it appear, on parchment, the most unexceptionable +charter of human rights known to the world, have we any reason to believe +or to hope, from their demonstrated incapacity of self-government, and from +their incessant past revolutions, that it will be or can be administered +for a day? But, as I before said, it is idle to talk of the constitution +now. _Texas must be Independent_. The tie between her and Mexico is +severed, and that by the injustice and violence of Mexico. It can never be +re-united--for between the colonists and Mexicans there is an almost total +dissimilarity of soil, climate, productions, pursuits, interests, habits, +manners, education, language and religion. + + * * * * * + + +No. IV. + + +In my last I contended that none of those ties which are necessary to bind +a people together and make them one, existed between the colonists and +Mexicans. That there was an almost total dissimilarity in the soil, climate +and productions of the regions of territory they respectively inhabited; +and that superadded to this, there was no identity of pursuits, habits, +manners, education, language or religion. I now proceed to show, that these +circumstances have engendered towards the colonists in the mass of the +Mexican nation, feelings of unconquerable jealousy and hostility. Yes! +our superiority in enterprise, in learning, in the arts and in all that +can dignify life, or embellish human nature, instead of exciting in +them a laudable ambition to emulate, to equal, or excel us--excites the +most hateful of all the passions--envy--and has caused them to endeavor +for years past, by an unremitting series of vexatious, oppressive and +unconstitutional acts, to retard our growth and prosperity, and if +possible, to get rid altogether of a people whose presence so hourly +reminds them of their own ignorance and inferiority. Some of these acts I +now proceed to enumerate. + +1st. With a sickly philanthropy worthy of the abolitionists of these United +States, they have, contrary to justice, and to law, intermeddled with our +slave population, and have even impotently threatened in the war now +pending, to emancipate them, and induce them to turn their arms against +their masters. If they would cast their eyes around them, they would find +that at home the more wealthy and intelligent of the Mexicans have unjustly +imposed upon at least one quarter of their fellow citizens, the most +galling and illegal system of servitude that ever stained the annals of +human oppression. + +2d. [Footnote: Have been repealed.] Although the colonization law conceded +to emigrants to Texas all the rights and privileges of citizens, in 1829 a +law was passed confining the retail of merchandize to native born Mexicans. +It is useless to comment upon the illegality and injustice of this law. It +speaks for itself, and clearly indicates the diabolical spirit in which it +was engendered. + +3d. I pass over many minor grievances growing out of their illegal +legislative enactments, and plainly denoting their settled hostility, and +come to the law of the 6th [Footnote: Have been repealed.] of April, 1830. +By this law, North Americans, and they alone, were forbidden ad mission +into Texas. This was enough to blast all of our hopes, and dishearten +all of our enterprise. It showed to us that we were to remain scattered, +isolated, and unhappy tenants of the wilderness--compelled to gaze upon +the resources of a lovely and fertile region, undeveloped for want of +population. That we were to be cut off forever from the society of fathers +and friends in the United States of the North--to prepare comforts suited +to whose age and infirmities, many of us had emigrated and patiently +submitted to every species of privation, and whose presence to gladden our +firesides we were hourly anticipating. That feature of this law granting +admission to all other nations except our brethren of the United States +of the North, was sufficient to goad us on to madness. Yes! the door of +emigration to Texas was closed upon the only sister republic worthy of the +name which Mexico could boast of in this new world. It was closed upon a +people among whom the knowledge and the foundations of rational liberty are +more deeply laid than among any other on the habitable globe. It was closed +upon a people who would have carried with them to Texas those principles +of freedom, and those ideas of self-government in which, from their birth, +they had been educated and practised. In short, and more than all, inasmuch +as it stamps the Mexican government with the foul blot of ingratitude, +it was closed upon a people who generously and heroically aided them in +their revolutionary struggle, and who were first and foremost to recognize +and rejoice at the consummation of their independence. Nothing but envy, +jealousy, and a predetermination to destroy the colonial settlements, could +have prompted the passage of this most iniquitous law. Simultaneous with +it, all parts of Texas were deluged with garrisons in a time of profound +peace. These garrisons extorted and consumed the substance of the land, +and paid for their supplies in drafts on a faithless and almost bankrupt +government. In their presence and vicinity the civil arm was paralyzed +and powerless. They imprisoned our citizens without cause, and detained +them without trial, and in every respect trampled upon our rights and +privileges. They could not have been sent to Texas for our protection, +for when they came we had expelled the savages, and were able to protect +ourselves; and at the commencement of the colonial settlements, when we +were few and weak, and scattered, and defenceless, not a garrison--no! not +a soldier came to our assistance. + +As another evidence of the hostility of the Mexicans to the Colonists, I +will instance the following: + +On the 7th of May, 1824, when the Republic was divided into States by the +constituent Congress, the territory called Texas, not being sufficiently +populous for a State, was united to Coahuila, but it was specially decreed +by Congress that whenever Texas was sufficiently populous to figure as a +State, she should make it known and be admitted. In 1833, the people of +Texas, knowing that their numbers exceeded those of several of the old +States, in solemn convention formed a constitution, and sent on a delegate +to the city of Mexico, praying that Texas be admitted as a State. Instead +of granting this just and legal request, they imprisoned our delegate in +the dungeons of the Inquisition, and detained him without a trial for more +than a year, deprived of the common air and common use of his own limbs! +Under all of those multiplied oppressions, the colonists, from a spirit of +forbearance, or rather from physical inability to resist, long groaned and +languished. Not a voice, not an arm was uplifted. The wheels of government +were not retarded in their operation by us. We consoled ourselves with +the pleasing but delusive hope that a returning sense of liberality and +justice would give to these obnoxious laws a brief duration. While laying +this flattering unction to their souls, while indulging dreams of fancied +felicity never to be realized, the dictator, Santa Anna, developed his +tyrannical course. He surrounded Congress with an armed force, dissolved +the body, and declared the constitution at an end. He dispersed our State +Legislature by violence, imprisoned our Governor, demanded the arrest of +some of the unoffending colonists, to be tried by military tribunals for +(if any) civil offences, disarmed the militia, leaving only one gun to 500 +citizens, and sent an army of mercenaries into Texas to rivet upon us the +chains of centralism. When these glaring oppressions were attempted to be +practised, the people of Texas felt that the cup of their bitterness was +full to overflowing--that the rod of persecution had smitten sufficiently +severe, and that they could no longer submit without relinquishing forever +the glorious appellation of freemen. They struck, and struck with the +potent arm of _liberty_. They conquered and drove the enemy from their +soil. They wish not to wage a war of cupidity and conquest. They only ask +to be permitted to govern the territory they occupy after the republican +mode of their fathers. If this, their reasonable demand, is not conceded, +they will carry the war into the enemy's country, and force the tyrant (as +they have the power to do,) to acknowledge the independence of Texas within +the very walls of his capital. After so many descriptions it is useless to +discuss the capability of Texas to figure as an independent government. +Suffice it to say, that it is larger than France, England, Scotland and +Ireland united--of more general fertility, and susceptible of a greater and +denser population. + +CURTIUS. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Texas, by William H. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Texas + A Brief Account of the Origin, Progress and Present State of +the Colonial Settlements of Texas; Together with an Exposition of the +Causes which have induced the Existing War with Mexico + +Author: William H. Wharton + +Release Date: January, 2005 [EBook #7355] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on April 20, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TEXAS *** + + + + +Produced by William Flis, Stan Goodman, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + TEXAS. + + + A BRIEF ACCOUNT + + OF THE + + ORIGIN, PROGRESS AND PRESENT STATE + + OF THE + + COLONIAL SETTLEMENTS OF TEXAS; + + TOGETHER WITH AN EXPOSITION OF THE CAUSES WHICH + HAVE INDUCED THE EXISTING + + WAR WITH MEXICO. + + + Extracted from a work entitled "A Geographical, Statistical and + Historical account of Texas," now nearly ready for the press. + + Some of these numbers have appeared in the New Orleans Bee + and Bulletin. + + 1836. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +It will be seen that the title of this little pamphlet implies more than +it contains. As war is now the order of the day, only a small portion of +the political part of the work on "Texas" is here presented. It is hoped +and believed that enough is unfolded to convince the most incredulous that +the colonists of Texas have been _forced_ into this contest with the +mother country, by persecutions and oppressions, as unremitting as they +have been unconstitutional. That it is not a war waged by them for cupidity +or conquest, but for the establishment of the blessings of liberty and good +government, without which life itself is a curse and man degraded to the +level of the brute. If the time-hallowed principle of the Declaration of +Independence, namely, "that governments are instituted for the protection +and happiness of mankind, and that whenever they become destructive of +these ends it is the right, nay it is the duty of the people to alter or +abolish them." If this sacred principle is recognised and acted upon, all +must admit that the colonists of Texas have a clear right to burst their +_fetters_, and have also a just claim for recognition as an independent +nation, upon every government not wholly inimical to the march of light and +liberty, and to the establishment of the unalienable rights of man. + +CURTIUS. + + + + +TO AN IMPARTIAL WORLD. + +No. I. + + +The unconstitutional oppression long and unremittingly practised upon the +colonists of Texas, having at length become insupportable, and having +impelled them to take up arms in defence of their rights and liberties, it +is due to the world that their motives, conduct and causes of complaint +should be fully made known. In order to do this it will be necessary to +explain the origin, progress and present state of the colonial settlements. +Without parade or useless preliminaries, I shall proceed to the subject, +as substance and not sound--matter and not manner are the objects of the +present discussion. It is known at least to the reading and inquiring +world, that on the dissolution of the connection between Mexico and Spain +in 1522, Don Augustin Iturbide, by corruption and violence, established +a short-lived, imperial government over Mexico, with himself at the head +under the title of Augustin I. On arriving at supreme power, Iturbide or +Augustin I. found that vast portion of the Mexican government, east of the +Rio Grande, known by the name of Texas, to be occupied by various tribes of +Indians, who committed incessant depredations on the Mexican citizens West +of the Rio Grande, and prevented the population of Texas. He ascertained +that the savages could not be subdued by the arms of Mexico, nor could +their friendship be purchased. He ascertained that the Mexicans, owing to +their natural dread of Indians, could not be induced to venture into the +wilderness of Texas. In addition to the dread of Indians, Texas held out no +inducements for Mexican emigrants. They were accustomed to a lazy pastoral +or mining life, in a healthy country. Texas was emphatically a land of +agriculture--the land of cotton and of sugar cane, with the culture of +which staples they were wholly unacquainted; and moreover, it abounded in +the usual concomitants of such southern regions--fevers, mosquitoes &c., +which the Mexicans hated with a more than natural or reasonable hatred. +Iturbide finding from those causes that Texas could not be populated with +his own subjects, and that so long as it remained in the occupancy of +the Indians, the inhabited parts of his dominions continually suffered +from their ravages and murders, undertook to expel the savages by the +introduction of foreigners. Accordingly the national institute or council, +on the 3d day of January, 1823, by his recommendation and sanction, adopted +a law of colonization, in which they invited the immigration of foreigners +to Texas on the following terms:-- + +1st. They promise to protect their liberty, property and civil rights. + +2d. They offer to each colonist one league of land, (4,444 acres) for +coming to Texas. + +3d. They guarantee to each colonist the privilege of leaving the empire +at any time, with all his property, and also the privilege of selling the +land which he may have acquired from the Mexican government, (see the +colonization law of 1823, more especially articles 1st, 8th and 20th.) +These were the inducements and invitations held out to foreigners under the +imperial government of Iturbide or Augustin I. In a short time, however, +the nation deposed Iturbide, and deposited the supreme executive power in +a body of three individuals. This supreme executive power on the 10th of +August, 1824, adopted a national colonization law, in which they recognized +and confirmed the imperial colonization law with all its guarantees of +person and property. It also conceded to the different States the privilege +of colonizing the vacant lands within their respective limits. (See +national colonization law, articles 1st and 4th.) In accordance with this +law, the States of Coahuila and Texas on the 24th March, 1825, adopted +a colonization law for the purpose, as expressed in the preamble, of +protecting the frontiers, expelling the savages, augmenting the population +of its vacant territory, multiplying the raising of stock, promoting the +cultivation of its fertile lands, and of the arts and of commerce. In this +state-colonization law--the promises to protect the persons and property +of the colonists, which had been made in the two preceding national +colonization laws, were renewed and confirmed. We have now before us the +invitations and guarantees under which the colonists immigrated to Texas. +Let us examine into the manner in which these conditions have been complied +with, and these flattering promises fulfilled. The donation of 4,444 acres +sounds largely at a distance. Considering, however, all the circumstances, +the difficulties of taking possession, &c. it will not be deemed an +entire gratuity or magnificent bounty. If these lands had been previously +pioneered by the enterprise of the Mexican government, and freed from the +insecurities which beset a wilderness, trod only by savages--if they had +have been situated in the heart of an inhabited region, and accessible +to the comforts and necessaries of life--if the government had have been +deriving any actual revenue, and if it could have realised a capital +from the sale of them--then we admit that the donation would have been +unexampled in the history of individual or national liberality. But how +lamentably different from all thus was the real state of the case. + +The lands granted were in the occupancy of savages and situated in a +wilderness, of which the government had never taken possession, and of +which it could not with its own citizens ever have taken possession. They +were not sufficiently explored to obtain that knowledge of their character +and situation necessary to a sale of them. They were shut out from all +commercial intercourse with the rest of the world, and inaccessible to +the commonest comforts of life; nor were they brought into possession and +cultivation by the colonists without much toil and privation, and patience +and enterprise, and suffering and blood, and loss of lives from Indian +hostilities, and other causes. Under the smiles of a benignant heaven, +however, the untiring perseverance of the colonists triumphed over all +natural obstacles, expelled the savages by whom the country was infested, +reduced the forest into cultivation, and made the desert smile. From this +it must appear that the lands of Texas, although nominally given, were +in fact really and clearly bought. It may here be premised that a gift +of lands by a nation to foreigners on condition of their immigrating and +becoming citizens, is immensely different from a gift by one individual to +another. In the case of individuals, the donor loses all further claim or +ownership over the thing bestowed. But in our case, the government only +gave wild lands, that they might be redeemed from a state of nature; that +the obstacles to a first settlement might be overcome; that they might be +rid of those savages who continually depredated upon the inhabited parts +of the nation, and that they might be placed in a situation to augment +the physical strength and power and revenue of the republic. Is it not +evident that Mexico now holds over the colonized lands of Texas, the +same jurisdiction and right of property which all nations hold over the +inhabited parts of their territory? But to do away more effectually the +idea that the colonists of Texas are under great obligations to the Mexican +government for their donations of land, let us examine at what price the +government estimated the lands given. Twelve or thirteen years ago, they +gave to a colonist one league of laud for coming, he paying the government +$30, and this year (1835) they have sold hundreds of leagues of land for +$50 each. So that it appears that the government really gave us what in +their estimation was worth $20. A true statement of facts then is all that +is necessary to pay at once that immense debt of endless gratitude which, +in the estimation of the ignorant and interested is due from the colonists +to the government. I pass over the toil and suffering and danger which +attended the redemption and cultivation of their lands by the colonists, +and turn to their civil condition and to the conduct and history of the +government. It is a maxim no less venerable for its antiquity than its +truth--a maxim admitted and illustrated by all writers on political +economy--and one that has been corroborated by experience in every corner +of the earth, that miserable is the servitude and horrible the condition +of that people whose laws are either uncertain or unknown. I ask, with +a defiance of contradiction, if ours is not and has not always been, in +Texas, the unhappy condition and miserable bondage spoken of in this +maxim? Who of us knows or can by possibility arrive at a knowledge of the +laws that govern our property and lives? Who of us is able to read and +understand and be entirely confident of the validity of his title to the +land he lives on, and which he has redeemed from a state of nature by the +most indefatigable industry and perseverance? Who knows whether he has paid +on his land all that government exacts, or whether he has not paid ten +times as much? Look at the mere mockery of all law and justice which has +always prevailed in place of an able and learned judiciary. Alcaldes, most +of them unlearned in any system of jurisprudence, and unconversant with +legal proceedings of any description, have been elected to administer a +code, scattered through hundreds of volumes and written in languages of +which they did not understand one word. + +Who among us is able to confer with his rulers; to represent his wants +and grievances; to ask advice, or recommend salutary changes? Have we had +more than one or two organs of communication with the government, and must +not they have been omniscient to have always understood the wishes of the +people, and incorruptible to have always correctly represented them? Who +of us feels or ever has felt any reliance or can place any confidence in +governmental matters, or can predict with any sort of certainty what in +this respect a day may bring forth? There are thousands of other evils +growing out of our present situation, too hourly, universally and bitterly +felt to require to be mentioned. Who will say that these things do not +exist? Who will say that we have not suffered the harassing uncertainty and +miserable bondage here represented? + +When the people of the United States commenced their war for independence +against Great Britain, the friends of Britain charged them with +ingratitude. They said that Britain had founded the colonies at great +expense--had increased a load of debt by wars on their account--had +protected their commerce, &c. This cannot be said of Mexico. Not one dollar +has she spent for Texas--not one Mexican soldier has ever fought by our +side in expelling the savages. She has given us no protection whatever; +and as allegiance and protection are reciprocal, we have a right on this +principle to cast off her yoke. However, in my next I pledge myself to +demonstrate that the Mexicans are wholly incapable of self-government, +and that on that principle we are bound by the first law of +nature--self-preservation--to dissolve all connexion, and take care of +ourselves. + + * * * * * + + +No. II. + + +I now proceed to demonstrate that the Mexicans are wholly incapable of +self-government, and that our liberties, our fortunes and our lives are +insecure so long as we are connected with them. At the onset I cannot but +advert to the spirit of prophecy and truth with which that unequalled +expounder and defender of the rights of man, Mr. Jefferson, spoke more than +18 years ago in regard to this very matter. In a letter to the Marquis de +Lafayette, dated Monticello, 14th May, 1817, he says, "I wish I could +give you better hopes of our Mexican brethren. The achievement of their +independence of old Spain is no longer a question. But it is a very serious +one what will then become of them. Ignorance and bigotry, like other +insanities, are incapable of self-government. They will fall under military +despotism, and become the murderous tools of their respective Bonapartes. +No one I hope can doubt my wish to see them and all mankind exercising +self-government. But the question is not what we wish--but what is +practicable. As their sincere friend, then, I do believe the best thing +for them would be to come to an accord with Spain, under the guarantee of +France, Russia, Holland, and the United States, allowing to Spain a nominal +supremacy, with authority only to keep the peace among them, leaving them +otherwise all the powers of self-government, until their experience, their +education, and their emancipation from their Priests should prepare them +for complete independence." Jefferson's works, vol. 4, page 303. Mr. +Jefferson well knew that from the discovery of America to the date of his +letter, the Mexicans had unfortunately been the persecuted, pillaged, and +priest-ridden slaves of the kings of Spain--a line of kings, with but +few exceptions, more inimical to the rights of man, more opposed to the +advancement of truth, and light, and liberty, more practised in tyranny, +more hardened in crime, more infatuated with superstition, and more +benighted with ignorance, than any other monsters that ever disgraced +a throne in christendom, since the revival of letters. Yes, humanity +shudders, and freedom burns with indignation at a recital of the +barbarities and oppressions practised upon the ill-fated Mexicans from the +bloody days of Cortes up to the termination of their connexion with Spain. +The produce of their cultivated fields was rifled--the natural products of +their forests pillaged--the bowels of their earth ransacked, and their +suffering families impoverished to glut the grandeur and enrich the coffers +of their trans-Atlantic oppressors. To make their miserable servitude less +perceptible, they were denied the benefits of the commonest education, +and were kept the blind devotees of the darkest and most demoralizing +superstition that ever clouded the intellects, or degraded the morals +of mankind. From this it is evident, that up to the period of their +independence, having been so long destitute of education, so long +unaccustomed to think or legislate for themselves, and so long under the +complete dominion of their liberty-hating Priests, they must have been +totally unacquainted with the plainest principles of self-government. Let +us examine what their subsequent opportunities of improvement have been. + +At the close of the revolution, Iturbide, by fraud and force, caused +himself to be proclaimed Emperor, who after much commotion, was dethroned, +banished and shot. After this Victoria was elected President, during all +of whose administration the country was distracted with civil wars and +conspiracies, as is evidenced by the rebellion and banishment of Montano, +Bravo, and many others. Victoria's term having expired, Pedraza was +constitutionally elected, but was dispossessed by violence, and Guerero +put in his stead. Guerero was scarcely seated before Bustamente with open +war deposed him, put him to death and placed himself at the head of the +government. Bustamente was hardly in the chair before Santa Anna, warring, +as he pretended, for the constitution and for making it still more liberal, +dispossessed him by deluging the country in a civil war, the horrors of +which have not at this moment ended. Since his accession we have been +woful witnesses that nothing but turmoil, anarchy and revolution have +overshadowed the land, and that at last he has at one fell stroke, with +an armed soldiery, turned congress out of doors, dissolved that body +and proclaimed that the constitution is no more. Here, then, we have a +lamentable verification of the fears and predictions of that great apostle +of human liberty, Mr. Jefferson. His prophecy in relation to the result of +their governmental experiment, implies in him an almost superhuman forecast +and knowledge of the elements essential to self-government. He knew that +they were too ignorant and too much under the dominion of their priests at +the period of their declaration, and he but too truly foresaw that owing to +the unhallowed ambition of their military aspirants, the country would be +too continually distracted with revolutions to admit of their advancement +in education or any useful knowledge whatever. Time has developed it. There +has been no attention on the part of government to schools or other useful +institutions. The present generation are as ignorant and bigoted as the +past one, and so will continue each succeeding one to the end of time, +unless some philanthropic and enlightened citizen shall arrive at power +with a purity of patriotism and reach of intellect unexampled among his +countrymen, and with energies of character sufficiently commanding to +emancipate the nation from the thraldom of her priests--to curb or kill her +countless military aspirants, thereby preventing incessant revolutions, and +thereby enabling a new generation to experience the benefits of education +and to qualify themselves in other respects for complete self-government. +I have now gone through with the administration, or rather +mal-administration, of the General Government. It is equally demonstrable +that so far as Texas is concerned, there have been equal confusion, +insecurity and injustice in the administration of the State governments. +Texas, as is known, forms an integral part of the State known by the name +of Coahuila and Texas. During the past year there were three persons +claiming and fighting for the office of Governor of this State. There was +no session of the legislature at the regular period, on account of this +civil war, and fifteen officers of the federal troops elected a governor +of their own over the head of the one elected by the people. At an +extraordinary time the legislature was convoked, and fraudulently sold for +a thousandth part of their value, millions of acres of our public domain. +This legislature was finally dispersed by the threats of the General +Government, and our Governor and one of the members were, on their retreat, +arrested and imprisoned by the troops of the permanent army--leaving us +involved in chaotic anarchy. Do not these facts conclusively demonstrate an +incapability of self-government on the part of the Mexicans? Do they not +cry aloud for an immediate dissolution of all connexion with them as the +only rock of our salvation? Yes, the vital importance of a declaration of +Independence is as clearly indicated by them as if it were "written in +sunbeams on the face of heaven." + + * * * * * + + +No. III. + +ANALYSIS OF THE MEXICAN FEDERAL CONSTITUTION OF 1824. + + +It has been wisely remarked by that great illustrator of the machinery +of governments, (Montesquieu) that there can be no liberty where the +legislative, executive, and judicial powers, or any two of them, are united +in the same person or body of persons. See Spirit of Laws, in reference to +the English Constitution. If any corroboration of this high authority is +needed, I will refer to Mr. Jefferson, and the writers of that invaluable +text book, the Federalist. Mr. Jefferson, in his Notes on Virginia, page +195, says the concentration of legislative, executive and judicial powers +in the same hands, is precisely the definition of despotism. And in the +Federalist, page 261, it is said, "the accumulation of these powers in +the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, +self-appointed, or elective, is the very definition of tyranny." In the +same great work it is clearly demonstrated, that if each department is +not so fortified in its powers as to prevent infringement by the others, +the constitution which creates them all will be worth no more than the +parchment upon which it is written. So important was it deemed by all the +states of the Union to keep these departments distinct, and in different +hands, that it has been specially provided for in all their constitutions. +See the constitutions of the different States. And yet in the face of all +this wisdom and experience, and contrary to every thing that is republican +in its nature, the framers of the Mexican constitution have reserved to +Congress the sole power of construing the constitutionality of its acts. +This, it will be readily seen, is an entire nullification of the judiciary +in all constitutional matters, and leaves the rights of the people and the +constitution itself without any other security than what is to be found +in the virtue, patriotism and intelligence of Congress. What slender +reliances, where the liberties and happiness of a nation are concerned! If +in the United States Congress should transcend its powers in the passage +of a law, the courts would declare it null and void, and bring back +Congress to a constitutional discharge of its duties. But if the same +thing were attempted in Mexico, Congress would re-enact the law, declare +it constitutional, and imprison the judge for his presumption. It appears +then, that the Mexican constitution of 1824 contains within itself the +seeds of its own destruction,--for the accumulation of legislative and +judicial powers in Congress, and the enabling of that body to violate the +constitution at will, renders it of no more avail than "a sounding brass +or tinkling cymbal." It will be no alleviation, says Mr. Jefferson, in his +work above quoted, page 195, that in the case of Congress unlimited powers +are vested in a plurality of hands. One hundred or two hundred despots are +surely as oppressive as one. Let those who doubt it turn their eyes on the +republic of Venice. In the next place I will show, that independent of this +objection, the Mexican constitution contains principles and provisions 500 +years behind the liberalized views of the present age, and at war with +every thing that is akin to civil or religious liberty. In that instrument +the powers of government, instead of being divided as they are in the +United States, and other civilized countries, into legislative, executive +and judicial, are divided into military, ecclesiastical and civil, +and these two first are fortified with exclusive privileges, and made +predominant. It is specially declared that the Roman Catholic religion +is, and forever shall be, the established religion of the land. No other +is tolerated, and no one can be a citizen without professing it. Can +any people be capable of self-government--can they know any thing about +republicanism, who will, in this enlightened age endeavor to erect the +military over the civil--to bind the conscience in chains, and to enforce +an absolute subscription to the dogmas of any religious sect--but more +especially of that sect, which has waged an unceasing warfare against +liberty, whenever the ignorance and superstition of mankind have given it +a foothold? + +Can republicans live under a constitution containing such unhallowed +principles? All will say they cannot. And if the Texan colonists are +willing to do so a moment longer than they are able to shake off the yoke, +they are unworthy the sympathies or assistance of any free people--they are +unworthy descendants of those canonized heroes of the American revolution, +who fought, and bled, and conquered for religious as well as civil liberty, +and who established the sacred principle, that "all men have a right to +worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their consciences." Yet +bad as this constitution is, it has been swept away by, if possible, a +worse form of government, the central. This system, now attempted to be +rivetted upon the people of Texas, has preserved most of the bad features +of the old constitution, viz: the preponderance of the military and clergy, +and has destroyed all of the good features, to wit: the representation of +the people through the medium of Congress, and the division of the republic +into States. The whole of the States are now consolidated into one, and +governed by a dictator and council of about a dozen, who are the creatures +of his will, and the flatterers of his lawless despotism. All of Mexico, +but Texas, has submitted to this, and she is waging a war against it with +all the energies of an infant and much oppressed people. If it be asked, +why have the people of Texas submitted so long to such a constitution, +I answer, that for the first few years their numbers or wealth did +not attract the notice or cupidity of government. 2dly, the incessant +revolutions of Mexico kept their attention from Texas for many years more. +3dly, they submitted from physical inability to resist. And 4thly, they +were determined to prove themselves a law and oath abiding people, and in +case of rupture with Mexico, to show to the world that they were not the +aggressors. This rupture has been brought about, and it is folly to think +of ever healing the breach. The constitution has been destroyed, and it is +idle to think of restoring it. If restored, I have shown that no republican +can live under it. We have no right to conclude, that if re-established, +it will be amended so as to be made more republican and more congenial +with our wishes--for in all their changes and commotions, each party +contends for the established religion--it is the last thing they will part +with--believing it to be the anchor of their hope and salvation here and +hereafter. But granting that the federal party should triumph--that the +monster centralism should be crushed, and that the constitution should be +amended so as to make it appear, on parchment, the most unexceptionable +charter of human rights known to the world, have we any reason to believe +or to hope, from their demonstrated incapacity of self-government, and from +their incessant past revolutions, that it will be or can be administered +for a day? But, as I before said, it is idle to talk of the constitution +now. _Texas must be Independent_. The tie between her and Mexico is +severed, and that by the injustice and violence of Mexico. It can never be +re-united--for between the colonists and Mexicans there is an almost total +dissimilarity of soil, climate, productions, pursuits, interests, habits, +manners, education, language and religion. + + * * * * * + + +No. IV. + + +In my last I contended that none of those ties which are necessary to bind +a people together and make them one, existed between the colonists and +Mexicans. That there was an almost total dissimilarity in the soil, climate +and productions of the regions of territory they respectively inhabited; +and that superadded to this, there was no identity of pursuits, habits, +manners, education, language or religion. I now proceed to show, that these +circumstances have engendered towards the colonists in the, mass of the +Mexican nation, feelings of unconquerable jealousy and hostility. Yes! +our superiority in enterprise, in learning, in the arts and in all that +can dignify life, or embellish human nature, instead of exciting in +them a laudable ambition to emulate, to equal, or excel us--excites the +most hateful of all the passions--envy--and has caused them to endeavor +for years past, by an unremitting series of vexatious, oppressive and +unconstitutional acts, to retard our growth and prosperity, and if +possible, to get rid altogether of a people whose presence so hourly +reminds them of their own ignorance and inferiority. Some of these acts I +now proceed to enumerate. + +1st. With a sickly philanthropy worthy of the abolitionists of these United +States, they have, contrary to justice, and to law, intermeddled with our +slave population, and have even impotently threatened in the war now +pending, to emancipate them, and induce them to turn their arms against +their masters. If they would cast their eyes around them, they would find +that at home the more wealthy and intelligent of the Mexicans have unjustly +imposed upon at least one quarter of their fellow citizens, the most +galling and illegal system of servitude that ever stained the annals of +human oppression. + +2d. [Footnote: Have been repealed.] Although the colonization law conceded +to emigrants to Texas all the rights and privileges of citizens, in 1829 a +law was passed confining the retail of merchandize to native born Mexicans. +It is useless to comment upon the illegality and injustice of this law. It +speaks for itself, and clearly indicates the diabolical spirit in which it +was engendered. + +3d. I pass over many minor grievances growing out of their illegal +legislative enactments, and plainly denoting their settled hostility, and +come to the law of the 6th [Footnote: Have been repealed.] of April, 1830. +By this law, North Americans, and they alone, were forbidden ad mission +into Texas. This was enough to blast all of our hopes, and dishearten +all of our enterprise. It showed to us that we were to remain scattered, +isolated, and unhappy tenants of the wilderness--compelled to gaze upon +the resources of a lovely and fertile region, undeveloped for want of +population. That we were to be cut off forever from the society of fathers +and friends in the United States of the North--to prepare comforts suited +to whose age and infirmities, many of us had emigrated and patiently +submitted to every species of privation, and whose presence to gladden our +firesides we were hourly anticipating. That feature of this law granting +admission to all other nations except our brethren of the United States +of the North, was sufficient to goad us on to madness. Yes! the door of +emigration to Texas was closed upon the only sister republic worthy of the +name which Mexico could boast of in this new world. It was closed upon a +people among whom the knowledge and the foundations of rational liberty are +more deeply laid than among any other on the habitable globe. It was closed +upon a people who would have carried with them to Texas those principles +of freedom, and those ideas of self-government in which, from their birth, +they had been educated and practised. In short, and more than all, inasmuch +as it stamps the Mexican government with the foul blot of ingratitude, +it was closed upon a people who generously and heroically aided them in +their revolutionary struggle, and who were first and foremost to recognize +and rejoice at the consummation of their independence. Nothing but envy, +jealousy, and a predetermination to destroy the colonial settlements, could +have prompted the passage of this most iniquitous law. Simultaneous with +it, all parts of Texas were deluged with garrisons in a time of profound +peace. These garrisons extorted and consumed the substance of the land, +and paid for their supplies in drafts on a faithless and almost bankrupt +government. In their presence and vicinity the civil arm was paralyzed +and powerless. They imprisoned our citizens without cause, and detained +them without trial, and in every respect trampled upon our rights and +privileges. They could not have been sent to Texas for our protection, +for when they came we had expelled the savages, and were able to protect +ourselves; and at the commencement of the colonial settlements, when we +were few and weak, and scattered, and defenceless, not a garrison--no! not +a soldier came to our assistance. + +As another evidence of the hostility of the Mexicans to the Colonists, I +will instance the following: + +On the 7th of May, 1824, when the Republic was divided into States by the +constituent Congress, the territory called Texas, not being sufficiently +populous for a Slate, was united to Coahuila, but it was specially decreed +by Congress that whenever Texas was sufficiently populous to figure as a +State, she should make it known and be admitted. In 1833, the people of +Texas, knowing that their numbers exceeded those of several of the old +States, in solemn convention formed a constitution, and sent on a delegate +to the city of Mexico, praying that Texas be admitted as a State. Instead +of granting this just and legal request, they imprisoned our delegate in +the dungeons of the Inquisition, and detained him without a trial for more +than a year, deprived of the common air and common use of his own limbs! +Under all of those multiplied oppressions, the colonists, from a spirit of +forbearance, or rather from physical inability to resist, long groaned and +languished. Not a voice, not an arm was uplifted. The wheels of government +were not retarded in their operation by us. We consoled ourselves with +the pleasing but delusive hope that a returning sense of liberality and +justice would give to these obnoxious laws a brief duration. While laying +this flattering unction to their souls, while indulging dreams of fancied +felicity never to be realized, the dictator, Santa Anna, developed his +tyrannical course. He surrounded Congress with an armed force, dissolved +the body, and declared the constitution at an end. He dispersed our State +Legislature by violence, imprisoned our Governor, demanded the arrest of +some of the unoffending colonists, to be tried by military tribunals for +(if any) civil offences, disarmed the militia, leaving only one gun to 500 +citizens, and sent an army of mercenaries into Texas to rivet upon us the +chains of centralism. When these glaring oppressions were attempted to be +practised, the people of Texas felt that the cup of their bitterness was +full to overflowing--that the rod of persecution had smitten sufficiently +severe, and that they could no longer submit without relinquishing forever +the glorious appellation of freemen. They struck, and struck with the +potent arm of _liberty_. They conquered and drove the enemy from their +soil. They wish not to wage a war of cupidity and conquest. They only ask +to be permitted to govern the territory they occupy after the republican +mode of their fathers. If this, their reasonable demand, is not conceded, +they will carry the war into the enemy's country, and force the tyrant (as +they have the power to do,) to acknowledge the independence of Texas within +the very walls of his capital. After so many descriptions it is useless to +discuss the capability of Texas to figure as an independent government. +Suffice it to say, that it is larger than France, England, Scotland and +Ireland united--of more general fertility, and susceptible of a greater and +denser population. CURTIUS. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Texas, by William H. 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