USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume I > Part 30
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feeling which so eminently distinguishes the free sons of that country in revolutionary times from which our citizens have descended."
Accompanying this report, the committee submitted an ordinance creating a treasury department. It was passed the following day, but was vetoed by the governor because the salary of the treasurer was fixed at $3,000 a year, an exorbitant one, he thought, with the finances of the state in the condition they then were. Upon further deliberation, the council unanimously sustained his objection, and on the 24th D. C. Bar- rett proposed a new ordinance, obviating it. By a suspension of the rules this was passed the same day, and the governor approved it on the 26th. Besides defining the treasurer's duties, the law directed that dis- bursements should be made only upon the order of the general council, "approved and signed by the Governor and attested by the Secretary of the Executive."
The election of a treasurer, Josiah H. Fletcher, completed the organ- ization of the department, but the method of drawing drafts, though safe was cumbersome, and the council passed an ordinance (December 2) providing that an order from the chairman of the finance committee should be a sufficient voucher to the treasurer for disbursements. The chairman was required to report such orders to the house, in order that the amount might be entered upon the journal, but the governor, with some justice, pointed out that this was an inadequate safeguard, and vetoed the bill. The council, however, was determined and passed it over his objection.
But, perhaps in anticipation of this action, Henry Millard, chairman of the committee on finance, shrinking either from the responsibility or. more probably, the labor involved, secured the passage of a resolution for the appointment of a committee of public accounts. This was "to receive, audit, and register said accounts," and keep records showing the status of all claims, "whether passed, rejected, or under consideration," and report upon them twice a week to the general council.
A fortnight later Mr. Royall, who had been appointed chairman of this committee, sought escape by creating the office of auditor, and his bill, amended to provide for a comptroller also, was passed December 26. The law defining the duties of these officers is a rambling one of twenty- one sections ; but in brief it was declared the duty of the auditor to pass upon the validity of all claims, keep the books of the government and, after observing the proper formalities, draw drafts on the treasury to cover audited accounts. After approval by him claims under $4,000 had to be examined independently by the comptroller. In case of disagree- ment between the two, the auditor might appeal to the decision of the council if it were in session or, in its absence, to the governor. All claims for more than $4,000 he must submit first to the council or gov- ernor, and, when passed by them, to the comptroller for his approval- in this case, perhaps merely formal. All drafts on the treasurer must be signed by the auditor and countersigned by the comptroller, and if the amount were greater than $4,000, they must bear in addition the approval of the governor or council. But the council reserved the right to order "payments on claims not within the provision of this ordi- nance." Twice a week-on Wednesday and Saturday-to prevent fraud.
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auditor and comptroller must make to each other reciprocal reports of claims audited and drafts signed, and once a week both were required to report to the general council or the governor. The governor objected to the clause which gave the council power of exempting certain claims from the operation of the law, but the bill was passed unchanged over his veto (December 29).
The appointment of officers to collect, respectively, customs duties and dues on land completed the establishment of the fiscal administra- tive machinery.
But the provision of revenue was a matter of greater difficulty. The committee on finance estimated on paper an adequate income from sale of the public domain, taxes on land, a tax on slaves, an export duty on cotton, and tonnage and tariff duties; but the committee was constrained to admit that, although the picture which they presented might be "flat- tering and exhilarating in the highest degree to the patriot and statesman, * * yet the urgent, pressing, and unavoidable exigencies and im-
* mediate necessities of our state * * require a fund to which it can immediately recur." To secure this, it could think of no project "possessing in a higher degree all the essential requisites of speedy operation, and combining celerity and certainty in its accomplishment, than that suggested by a loan."
In the end this really did prove, though none too speedy in its opera- tion, the country's chief means of securing ready money, but the council had no notion of trusting all its ventures to one bottom. To mention its more important experiments in chronological order : on December 5 a general law provided for the negotiation of a $1,000,000 loan; a week later a system of tonnage and tariff duties was declared; on December 30 measures were taken for the efficient collection of land dues; and on January 20 an issue of treasury notes was authorized. To these sources of revenue must be added finally a number of donations.
Most of the donations came from the United States, and, though never very great, as an evidence of good-will they afforded encourage- ment to the Texans far out of proportion to their intrinsic importance. The contribution of the New Orleans committee during the session of the consultation has already been noticed, but at the same time similar committees were busy in Natchitoches and Mobile. November 15 the council acknowledged the receipt of a letter from D. H. Vail, of the former place, informing them that he had received "in different articles" about $800 for the benefit of Texas, and at the same time news came that in Mobile $2,000 had been raised. On November 30 General Hous- . ton presented a gift of $100 from Mr. John Hutchins, of Natchez, Mis- sissippi, and some two weeks later we find the council taking steps to change a thousand dollar bank note which was a contribution from the United States. In the meantime, Austin, Archer, and Wharton had been dispatched to the United States for the purpose primarily of nego- tiating a loan, but with instructions among other things to receive dona- tions, and late in February they reported a gift of $500 from three citizens of Nashville. About the same time Samuel St. John, a rich cotton factor of Mobile, authorized the provisional government to draw on him for $5,000. He had visited Texas, he explained, in the summer
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of 1832 and had ever since retained a lively interest in her welfare, because of her peculiar facilities for cotton growing. On March 7, to carry this subject a little further than the session of the general council, the convention passed a resolution of thanks to H. K. W. Hill of Nash- ville for a gift of $5,000, and on May 20 the citizens of Port Gibson, Mississippi, made a cash donation of $927. As late as June 27, a Dr. Williams presented a donation of $650 from the United States. The commissioners in their progress through the country appointed numer- ous local general agents to solicit volunteers and donations, and the funds collected were employed in equipping those who volunteered.
In Texas itself the wealth of the citizens, as of the state, consisted in land. One is not surprised to learn, therefore, that with two excep- tions, they subscribed no cash. On November 1 Frost Thorn wrote to inform the consultation that the people of Nacogdoches had pledged in mass meeting the previous day twenty-eight horses and $2,800, while a few days later San Augustine announced subscriptions of thirteen horses and $400. The colonists turned naturally to a tariff as a revenue device. In his first message Governor Smith recommended the establish- ment of a tariff, and the finance committee estimated an annual income of $125,000 from tonnage dues alone. No time was lost in introducing a bill. It was passed on November 8, and approved on the 12th, but how much revenue it yielded is unknown. In all likelihood it was very little. Thomas F. Mckinney declared that all the merchants in the country had imported larger stocks than usual in anticipation of the law, and complained that he had been prevented from doing the same, because his partner, Samuel M. Williams, had neglected his own business in the United States to purchase supplies for the government. The council thereupon, to remedy the injustice passed an act exempting from duty all goods actually shipped but not received by this firm before the pas- sage of the act. All promise of revenue from this law was permanently blighted on January 20, by making treasury notes acceptable for customs. Complaints soon began to come in, too, from the United States, and since Texas was so largely dependent upon the good-will of that country, it is likely that the enforcement of the law quietly ceased. Finally, the constituent convention decreed, March 12, 1836, that the provisional government had exceeded its authority in levying import duties, and ordered what had been collected to be repaid.
The collection of land dues next occupied the attention of the coun- cil. The colonization law of Coahuila and Texas provided that "new settlers shall pay to the state, as an acknowledgement for each sitio of grazing land, thirty dollars: for each labor, not irrigible, two and a half; and for each that is irrigible, three and a half ; and so on pro- portionally, * but the payment thereof need not be completed under six years from settlement."
When hostilities began, J. H. Money, of the municipality of Austin, had in his possession from this source a balance of $296.70, and most of this the consultation used. Considerable sums were also in the hands of the collectors at Nacogdoches, and a few days after its organization the general council appointed a committee' to take charge of them. On November 27 Mr. Menard of this committee reported that he had secured
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from land dues $1,678.7712, and from the sale of stamped paper $250. An ordinance of December 30 authorized the appointment of "collectors of public dues" in each of the departments of Texas. But as a yielder of revenue the law was greatly impaired in efficiency by the provision that properly audited treasury orders should be receivable for such dues.
Gail Borden was elected collector for the department of Brazos, and two of his reports are at hand. An incomplete one as late as July 31, 1836, shows that he had received at that time but $797.621/2. No report can be found from the department of Nacogdoches, but there was much opposition in that quarter to the closing of the land offices by the con- sultation, and on this account it is probable that few of the citizens paid their dues.
Finally it was decided to issue treasury notes. The act was approved January 20, and provided that :
"The Treasurer shall immediately cause to be printed in a neat form and shall issue, in discharge of claims against the Government and drafts against the Treasury, the amount of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in Treasury notes, ** * * specifying on the face thereof, that they shall be received in payment for lands and other public dues, or redeemed with any monies in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated."
Of course, with no money in the treasury, and little prospect of get- ting any, these notes were practically worthless from the day of their issue.
But from the beginning it was felt that a loan from the United States must be the chief hope of the country for money, and on Novem- ber 12, as we have seen, the consultation appointed Stephen F. Austin, William H. Wharton, and B. T. Archer commissioners to the United States, with such powers and instructions as the "governor and general council may deem expedient."
The council was strangely dilatory in preparing these instructions. A select committee appointed for that purpose reported, November 21, that upon considering the matter, they :
"Are unable to find any acts of the Convention or of this Council, whereon to base instructions for said agents, or any data which can guide your committee in an opinion of their duties, but from all the information they can obtain, your committee have concluded that the agents should receive their instructions from the Executive; but in order to enable the Governor to give the necessary instructions, an ordinance should first be originated by the Committee of State, and passed and approved, defining in general the powers and duties of the agents. *
* * But your committee can not advise that the Committee of State be instructed upon this subject with propriety. until the reports of the several committees on the Military, Navy. and Finance have been received and passed."
At the end of nearly two weeks the council had passed to its third reading an ordinance to create a loan of a million dollars, but there it halted until the governor took up the matter, in his message of Decem- ber 4: "It must be acknowledged by all," he said, "that our only succor is expected from the East, where as vet we have not dispatched our
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agents. Sufficient time has elapsed since the rising of the Convention for them, by this time, to have arrived in the United States. They have called on me in vain day after day, time after time, for their dispatches, * *
* and they are not yet ready. I say to you, the fate of Texas depends upon their immediate dispatch and success. * * ** Permit me to beg of you a suspension of all other business, until our Foreign Agents are dispatched."
Thus bestirred, the council immediately passed the bill providing for a loan, and the next day passed an ordinance outlining the instructions which the governor should give the commissioners. Both bills were ap- proved on December 5.
For the loan, the governor was required to make out ten bonds of $100,000 each, payable in not less than five nor more than ten years ; and with these the commissioners were "by all proper ways and means, by sale or pledge" to secure the loan, "or such part thereof as they can effect, upon the best terms the market affords, not exceeding ten per cent per annum." In case these bonds should not be accepted as sufficient security, the commissioners were instructed "to pledge or hypothecate the public lands of Texas, and to pledge the public faith"-everything, in fact, that Texas possessed. With this authority, the governor lost no time in issuing commissions to the agents, and their private instruc- tions were ready for them on December 8 .* But more than two weeks elapsed again before they sailed for New Orleans.
On January 10 the commissioners notified Governor Smith that they had arranged for two loans aggregating $250,000. The fact that this could be done in New Orleans, where the Texas situation was so well known, they considered it particularly encouraging and of good augury for success in other parts of the United States. It will be seen from their terms that these so-called loans were really nothing more than contracts for the purchase of five hundred thousand acres of land at fifty cents an acre ; but the commissioners thought themselves very fortu- nate to get money on any terms. "In fact, rather than have missed the loan," they wrote, "we had better have borrowed the money for five years and given them the land in the bargain." They were of the opinion, moreover, that the loan would increase the interest in Texas ; the lenders, they said, had already offered to land in Texas within six weeks five hundred volunteers.
The first loan, of $200,000, was subscribed by ten men, four of whom were from Cincinnati, three from Kentucky, two from Virginia, and one from New Orleans. Ten per cent of the amount was paid down ; the balance was to be paid upon ratification of the contract by the convention, which had been called for March 1. The amount advanced was to bear
*Besides negotiating this loan, they were to make arrangements, for fitting out a navy, procure supplies for the army, receive donations and, finally, proceed to Wash- ington and find out the attitude of the Government toward Texas. They were to learn whether any interposition might be expected from the United States, or whether "any ulterior move on our part would be more commendable and be calculated to render us more worthy of their favor, or whether by any fair and honorable means Texas can become a member of that Republic." In short, they were to learn whether, if Texas should declare independence, the United States would immediately recognize it and form an offensive and defensive alliance.
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eight per cent interest, and the lenders might, if they chose, take land in repayment for this and future instalments at the rate of fifty cents an acre. In case they elected to take land-and all of them intended to- the government was to survey and plot it in tracts of six hundred and forty acres each, and they must make their selection within two months after publication of a notice that the lands were ready. Article fifth provided that "no grant or sale of land shall be made by the government of Texas, from and after the date hereof, which shall not contain a full reservation of priority for the location to be made under this loan." but this was not to apply to vested rights already existing. Article sixth, a little more sweeping, declares that "none of the public lands are to be offered at public or private sale until after the locations hereinbefore provided for shall have been made." For the faithful performance of this contract, the commissioners pledged "the public lands and faith of the government of Texas," but even after its confirmation the lenders re- served the right of declining to pay the balance.
The second loan was for $50,000, and seven of the twelve subscribers were residents of New Orleans, while three were from Virginia and two were from Kentucky. This loan was supposed to have been in cash, but Austin for some reason estimated that it would yield them net but $40,000. Gouge, however, who wrote from documents, some of which are not now accessible, says in his Fiscal History of Texas that the amount actually received was $45,802. The conditions of this loan were the same as those of the first, except that priority of location was reserved to subscribers to the first, and that the commissioners pledged their per- sonal property for the ratification of this contract by the convention.
To the lenders this was simply a gigantic land speculation. They bound themselves by mutual agreement not to sell to any outsiders for less than $1.25 an acre, and began forthwith to "boom" Texas lands both by letter and in the public prints. The Texans were at first glad enough to get money on any terms, and such expressions as were made at the time favored prompt ratification of the contracts in order that the remaining instalments might become available. But before the con- vention met considerable opposition was being manifested to the pro- vision which secured to the lenders prior rights of location. It was felt that this would make it very difficult for the government to find additional purchasers for its public lands, and after the establishment of the government ad interim President Burnet, with the approval of his cabinet, refused to ratify the contract. After a good deal of nego- tiation the contractors agreed to surrender their right to prior location in return for a bonus of thirty-two leagues of land, and on June 3, 1837, and May 24, 1838, congress appropriated lands at the rate of fifty cents an acre to settle their claims for the money advanced.
The work of the commissioners extended beyond the life of the pro- visional government, but it will be best to follow them here to the end of their mission.
Greatly encouraged by their success in New Orleans, they continued their activities in the United States. They were offered a loan of $50,000 in Mobile on the same terms as the New Orleans loan, but for some reason nothing ever came of it. Elsewhere they were not so well received.
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Men hesitated to risk their money in Texas until a declaration of inde- pendence was made, and though the commissioners urged this step upon the government time after time, no attention was paid to them. Indeed, as late as April 24, nearly two months after the declaration was made, Austin complained that they had heard from the government not "one word." To make matters worse, there spread through the country rumors of the unchecked advance of the Mexicans and of the unfortunate quarrel between the governor and council, and it is not strange that the most strenuous efforts of the commissioners were in vain-although, as Whar- ton said, "we offer to the lenders to pledge all we have on earth, even to our wearing apparel."
On April 11 Austin made an ingenious proposition to President Biddle of the United States Bank for a loan of $500,000. The proposal was to deposit in the United States Bank Texas bonds for $500,000, bearing eight per cent interest for ten years, upon which the bank should issue stock certificates at $100 each for the same amount. These stocks were to be offered to the public for a cash payment of $25, with notes at sixty, ninety and a hundred and twenty days for the balance. The notes were to be discounted by the bank, and all the money thus obtained should be paid over to the commissioners. At the end of five years the state would begin the redemption of the bonds, and would take up one- fifth annually. Biddle sympathized with the Texans, but he could not accept Texan bonds as bankable security. On the 15th, Austin made a frantic appeal to President Jackson and Congress for a share of the $37,000,000 surplus in the national treasury, but naturally nothing came of that.
Two weeks after Austin's appeal to President Jackson arrangement was made for a loan of $100,000 in New York on the same plan as the New Orleans loans. The lenders in this case had the option of taking land in repayment at twenty-five cents an acre, but since the expense of issuing stock certificates and surveying the land was to be borne by them, it is doubtful whether they enjoyed any advantage over the former lenders. Ten per cent of the loan seems to have been paid, but only $7,000 can be accounted for. Austin deposited $5,000 with William Bryan in New Orleans, June 12, and $2,000 was paid to Wharton. The commissioners themselves admitted that they did not expect this loan to be ratified, "unless the prospects of Texas were gloomy even to desperation."
It is evident that the actual cash handled by the government during the war was not great. The treasurer reported on March 1, 1836, that he had received and expended since November 28, 1835, $3,981.85. The amount was yielded principally by the revenues of Texas, but if any other sums ever came from the same source the fact is not revealed by the records. Donations, it seems certain, did not exceed $25,000, and much of this was in kind; while the loans amounted, it was said, to $100,000.
The total indebtedness of the government at the end of August, 1836, was estimated by the treasurer at $1,250,000. Of this amount there was due for loans $100,000, on account of the navy $112,000,to the army $412,000, for supplies $450,000, and for civil and contingent expenses $118,000. The remaining $60,000 is not itemized. Some of these claims
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were paid in land, but the most of them were discharged with treasury notes, which subsequently were unmercifully scaled and redeemed. Such debts as remained unpaid at the time of annexation were paid from the ten million dollars which the state received from Congress in 1850.
Other subjects to which the general council devoted some attention were the enlistment of co-operation by the Mexican Liberals and con- ciliation of the Indians-chiefly of the Cherokees and their allies.
Undoubtedly one reason of the consultation for declaring on Novem- ber 7. for the constitution 1824 was the hope of receiving assistance from the Mexican Liberals, and it was much encouraged a few days later by news that General Mexia-he who had visited Texas in the interest of Santa Anna during the troubles of 1832-had organized a small force in New Orleans and was preparing to make a descent upon Tampico in the interest of the Liberals. On November 12 a committee of the consultation reported that the rumor of unsettled conditions in Mexico "gives hopes of a co-operation of our Mexican brethren in the glorious cause of liberty and the constitution, in which Texas has set the noble example." This feeling can only have been increased by the arrival of Governor Viesca and Col. José Maria Gonzales, the latter bringing with him about twenty Mexican soldiers. He had formerly served in the Mexican army and had at one time commanded several companies of cavalry that were then de- fending Bexar. Austin and Fannin believed that he could induce these to desert in a body.
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