USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume I > Part 44
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Lamar's educational view, too, met the approval of Congress, and modest provision was made for the endowment of schools and colleges. January 26, 1839, a law provided that three leagues of land should be
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surveyed in each county, and devoted to the establishment of primary schools or academies. If there was not enough good vacant land in a county for this purpose, the survey was to be made from public land elsewhere. The president was to have surveved also, fifty leagues of land "for the establishment and endowment of two colleges or univer- sities hereafter to be created." The following year-February 5, 1840- an additional league was appropriated ~~~ the schools of each county, and at the same time provision was made for certificating teachers. No teacher was to be given a certificate who was not capable of teaching reading, writing, English grammar, arithmetic and geography.
Other important legislation of Lamar's administration was the first "homestead law," approved January 26, 1839, a law granting 640 acre headrights to immigrant families who arrived in Texas before 1840, a law for the permanent location of the capital, and various acts for the increase of the revenues.
The homestead law "reserved to every citizen or head of a family in this republic, free and independent of the power of a writ of fieri facias or other execution issuing from any court of competent jurisdic- tion whatever, fifty acres of land or one town lot, including his or her homestead and improvements not exceeding $500 in value, all household and kitchen furniture (provided it does not exceed in value $200), all implements of husbandry (provided they shall not exceed fifty dollars in value ), all tools, apparatus, and books belonging to the trade or profes- sion of any citizen, five milch cows, one yoke of work oxen, or one horse, twenty hogs, and one year's provisions; and that all laws and parts of laws contravening or opposing the provisions of this act be and they are hereby repealed; provided, the passage of this act shall not interfere with contracts between parties heretofore made." "This," says the late Judge C. W. Raines, "appears to be the first homestead act ever passed in any country."
On January 14, 1839, Lamar signed an act creating a commission of five to select a site for the permanent location of the government. As chosen by Congress, the commissioners were A. C. Horton of Mata- gorda, J. W. Burton of Nacogdoches, William Menifee of Colorado, Isaac Campbell of San Augustine, and Louis P. Cooke of Brazoria. The only restriction upon their freedom was that the site must be between the Brazos and Colorado rivers and west of the San Antonio road-in other words, it must be on the extreme western edge of settlement. The act provided that the capital should be named Austin. On April 13th
the commissioners reported that they had selected the village of Water- loo on the east bank of the Colorado as the most available location. The president had already appointed Edwin Waller to supervise the survey of town lots and the erection of public buildings, and so well did he discharge these duties that the government was transferred to the new capital in October, 1839. At the time there was a good deal of opposi- tion on the part of jealous towns and localities to the establishment of the capital in the western wilderness, but it proved an excellent choice, and undoubtedly hastened the extension of the western and northwest- ern frontier and furthered the development of the country.
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Lamar's was an extremely busy administration. The country was actually developing very rapidly. The Indian wars and a more active policy toward Mexico than Houston had found it necessary to pursue were costly. The country had been compelled to resort to the issue of paper money before Lamar came in, and this was already beginning to depreciate. The $5,000,000 loan authorized by the first Congress could be negotiated neither in the United States nor in Europe. Tax laws and tariff laws occupied much of the attention of every congress, but since taxes and tariff duties were payable in the paper of the government they yielded nothing in real money. As paper issues increased depreciation continued, and at the close of Lamar's term in December, 1841, the debt had grown to more than $7,000,000, and the value of government paper had declined to from fifteen to twenty cents on the dollar. Lamar has generally been condemned for his extravagance, and certainly some of his policies-notably the Santa Fé expedition, to be described later. were lacking in judgment ; but it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that much of his so-called extravagance was justified in the end by its results. In considering the $5,000,000 addition to the public debt during the three years of his term it must be remembered that, on account of the depreciation of funds, the value received by the government was hardly more than a third of that amount.
For some months during 1840 and 1841 President Lamar was on a leave of absence for medical treatment in the United States, and the duties of the office were discharged by the vice-president. David G. Burnet.
Burnet and Houston were candidates for the presidency in 1841, and Houston was elected. His message of December 30 announced that his policy would be a continuation of that developed during his first term, and almost the opposite of that followed by Lamar. One-fourth of the money consumed by the wars would have been sufficient, he thought, to make our borders safe, if it had been employed in cultivating friendly relations with the Indians. He advised the conclusion of treaties with as many of the tribes as possible, and the establishment of a line of trading posts from the frontier to Red River, with one or more traders at each, and with twenty-five or thirty men to protect them.
"I do not doubt that this system, once established, would con- ciliate the Indians, open a lucrative commerce with them, and bring continued peace to our entire frontier. Their intercourse with us would enable them to obtain articles of convenience and comfort which they could not otherwise procure, unless by a very indirect trade with more remote tribes who have commerce with traders of the United States. Finding a disposition on our own part to treat them fairly and justly, and dreading a loss of the advantages and facilities of trade, they would be powerfully affected, both by feelings of confidence and motives of interest, to preserve peace and maintain good faith."
Mexico had rejected our overtures for recognition, and he was of the opinion that no further advances should be made to the government. But there was not the slightest danger of conquest from that quarter.
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and he recommended the cultivation of commercial relations with Mex- icans on the border.
On the subject of the finances the message spoke plainly :
"There is not a dollar in the treasury ; the nation is involved from ten to fifteen millions. The precise amount of its liabilities has not been ascertained. * * * We are not only without money, but without credit, and, for want of punctuality, without character. At our first commencement we were not without credit, nor had a want of punctuality then impaired our charac- ter abroad or confidence at home. Patriotism, industry, and enterprise are now our only resources, apart from our public domain and the precarious revenues of the country. These remain our only hope, and must be improved, husbanded, and properly employed."
To meet the situation President Houston advised the passage of stay laws postponing the redemption of outstanding debts "to a period sufficiently remote to enable the government to redeem, in good faith, such as it ought to redeem." To attempt to tax the present population for the liquidation of the debt would be ruinous. For the future maintenance of the government he recommended the issue of $350,000 in exchequer bills, secured by a specific appropria- tion of a million acres of land in the Cherokee district ; and a loan of $300,000 secured by specific assignments of the public land, which the bondholders were to acquire upon the failure of the government to meet the stipulations of its contract. The direct property tax should be reduced one half, the remainder and all other public dues to be receivable only in gold and silver, "or equivalent currency." The exchequer bills were to be accepted as "equivalent currency."
The situation was all but desperate, and congress was in the mood for economy. It abolished a number of offices and reduced the salaries of others, but did not follow exactly the president's rec- ommendations. Instead of reducing taxes one-half, Houston com- plained that it almost abolished them, and postponed payment for six months of those that it continued; it refused to authorize the new loan and repealed the five million-dollar act passed by the first con- gress ; and though it authorized the issue of exchequer bills, it failed to secure them by specific allotments of public land, and they rapidly depreciated. as other paper had done. The subject remained a troublesome one throughout the remainder of the life of the republic, and at the close of 1845 the public debt was estimated at nearly $12,000,000.
At the same time Houston complained of the inefficiency and expense of the post office department. Both of these he attributed in some degree to the location of the capital on the edge of the western wilderness. In the spring of 1842, therefore, when the Mex- icans made a foray and held San Antonio for a few days, he decided that the seat of government was too exposed, and, acting in accord- ance with his constitutional right, transferred it to Houston. An attempt to move the archives, however, was violently and success- frilly resisted by the citizens of Austin. Congress met at Houston
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in the winter of 1842, but thereafter the government was removed to Washington on the Brazos, where it remained during the rest of Houston's term. This defense of the archives by the people of Anstin has been dubbed the "Archive War."
In December, 1844, Houston was succeeded by Anson Jones, who had been serving as secretary of state. Annexation was the all- absorbing issue at the time, and during the following year the domestic affairs of the republic were of small importance.
During Houston's second term the active career of the Texas navy came to an end. During the revolution four vessels were pur- chased and put in commission-the Invincible, the Brutus, the Lib- erty. and the Independence. They rendered a valuable service in protecting the coast and in annoying the enemy on his own shores, but various casualties overtook them and by the fall of 1837 all were gone. The Invincible ran aground at Galveston in trying to escape the Mexicans and was destroyed, and Independence was captured, the Liberty was sold for debt at New Orleans, and the Brutus was destroyed in Galveston harbor by a storm. President Houston's message of May 5, 1837, reminded congress that the commerce of Texas had suffered for want of an adequate navy. One of the first acts of the second congress, which met at Houston in November. 1837, was for the purchase of "a 500-ton ship mounting eighteen guns, two 300-ton brigs of twelve guns each, and three schooners of 130 tons, mounting five or seven guns each." For this purpose $280,000 was appropriated. The president appointed Samuel M. Williams of the firm of Mckinney and Williams at Quintana to place the contract. In November, 1838, Williams closed a contract with Frederick Daw- son of Baltimore for six vessels conforming to the above description, and during the summer and fall of 1839 they were delivered. As. rechristened by the Texans, they were the Austin, the Wharton, the Archer, the San Bernard, San Jacinto and San Antonio. In addition to these. Gen. James Hamilton had purchased for the government the Zavala. As the French fleet had in the meantime destroyed the Mexi- can navy. the Texan vessels were for the moment not needed for defense, and congress passed an act in February, 1840, requiring the president to retire from the service temporarily all except those needed as revenue cutters. The act provided, however, that "should Mexico make any hostile demonstration upon the gulf, the president may order any number of vessels into active service that he may deem necessary for the public security." Lamar received information that Mexico was trying to obtain vessels in England for an attack on Texas, and therefore exercised the discretion which the law allowed him to keep the Texan fleet in service. Five of the vessels, com- manded by Commodore E. W. Moore, he sent on a cruise to Yucatan. which was in rebellion against Mexico, and the following year (1841) a temporary alliance was made with Yucatan by which that state agreed to pay Texas $8,000 for putting to sea three of its vessels and $8,000 for every month of their active service against the common enemy. By the spring of 1842 the fleet was back in New Orleans undergoing repairs preparatory to enforcing Houston's blockade of
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Mexican ports. Before the vessels were ready for sea, however, the blockade was withdrawn. In January, 1843, congress passed a secret act ordering the sale of the navy, but the commissioners sent by the president to New Orleans to carry out the sale were persuaded by Commodore Moore to sail with him to Yucatan, the government of which had agreed to pay liberally for the assistance. His chief motive seems to have been to obtain money with which to pay debts in New Orleans incurred in fitting out the vessels, and for which he felt a personal responsibility. A violent quarrel arose between Moore and the president, who finally issued a proclamation, declaring that Moore was guilty of "disobedience, contumacy, and mutiny." The quarrel had the effect of making public the law for the sale of the navy, and this aroused such strong popular opposition that the act was repealed February 5, 1844. When Texas was annexed to the United States its remaining vessels, four in number, were incorporated in the United States navy.
In contrast with the government, the people of Texas were coming to be fairly prosperous during the closing years of the republic. Immigration had been rapid since the battle of San Jacinto, and by 1846 there were probably 100,000 white inhabitants. Most of them came from the United States, where the panic of 1837 and subsequent years of depression turned the attention of many to the free lands of Texas as a field in which to rebuild their broken fortunes. Next in number to the Americans were the German immigrants, with here and there an occasional Englishman or Frenchman. A revival of the empresario system had been instrumental in hastening the settlement of the western and northwestern frontier. Crops were good and com- merce was increasing, and indications were not lacking that in 1845 the hardest days of the republic were over.
As a subject of international politics the republic of Texas occu- pied no small place in the diplomacy of three of the principal powers of the world-the United States, England, and France, not to men- tion Mexico .* This was largely due to the refusal of Mexico to recog- nize Texan independence. On May 20, 1836, as has already been said, the Mexican congress passed a resolution declaring that Santa Anna had no power to bind the nation in the treaty of Velasco, and notifying the world that Mexico would recognize no action taken by him while a prisoner. At the same time it was announced that the government was determined to reduce the rebellious Texans and was preparing an expedition for that purpose.
In fact, the government exerted itself strenuously to prevent the evacuation of Texas by Filisola, who succeeded to the command of the Mexican army after the capture of Santa Anna. He was instructed at
*On the foreign relations of the Republic of Texas several recent publications demand mention : George P. Garrison (Editor), Diplomatic Correspondence of the Republic of Texas, 3 volumes (published by the American Historical Association, Washington, 1908-1911) ; Ephraim Douglass Adams, British Interests and Activities in Texas, 1838-1846 (Johns Hopkins Press. Baltimore, 1910) : Justin H. Smith, The Annexation of Texas (The Baker and Taylor Company. New York, 1911) ; and E. W. Winkler ( Editor), The Secret Journals of the Senate of the Republic of Texas, 1836-1845 (published by the Texas Library and Historical Commission. Austin. 1911).
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all cost to retain Bexar, and was told that a division of 4,000 men was being prepared to reinforce him. Filisola was already on the retreat to Matamoras when this dispatch reached him, and he continued his retreat. The next communication from the government relieved him of the command and appointed General Urrea to the place, but Urrea was now in Matamoras, whither he had preceded Filisola, and Filisola surrendered the command to General Andrade. Despite orders from Urrea to halt, Andrade continued the march to Matamoras, and before the end of July every Mexican soldier had crossed the Rio Grande.
Mexico continued to threaten invasion, and the Texans expected an expedition during the fall of 1836. On June 25, 1836, Mr. Powhatan Ellis, chargé d'affaires of the United States in Mexico, wrote his gov- ernment that Mexico seemed determined to push the war, and that men were being impressed daily in the streets of the capital to swell the army of invasion. More important, from the point of view of the United States, was the rumor which Ellis had heard on good authority that Mexico had appealed to England for assistance in reducing Texas. On August 3 Ellis wrote more definitely on this subject. He said that the Mexican minister at London had been instructed to appeal to England for aid in restricting the spread of slavery, and then, if their overtures were cordially received, to ask help directly in putting down the revolted colonists in Texas who were disobeying the Mexican laws and introducing slaves. On October 26 Ellis wrote that the troops that had been collecting in the capital took up the march for Texas the week before under the command of General Nicolas Bravo. They were all raw levies, he said, and proba- bly did not exceed 4,000. Bravo seemed confident of success, and declared that the force would be increased to 12,800 men before it reached Texas. But, said Ellis, "however confident the officers inay be of their success in the ensuing campain, there is no doubt that a panic already prevails among the soldiers."
Long before these troops reached Texas party conflicts between the Centralists and the Federalists made it necessary for the govern- ment to turn them aside for service nearer home, and the danger to Texas passed. Though Mexican vessels were able for a time, on account of the weakness of the Texan navy, to annoy our gulf trade, President Houston was wise enough to perceive that Mexico was practically helpless, and adopted the policy of ignoring it as a source of real danger. He sent most of the army home on furlough and frowned upon border broils.
In the fall of 1838 the attention of Mexico was still further diverted from Texas by trouble with France. On November 27 a French squadron blockaded Vera Cruz. and a state of war practically existed until the following spring. Notwithstanding President Lamar's defiant inaugural address, he was anxious enough for peace with Mexico, and seeing in the French embroglio a favorable occasion for overtures, he appointed Barnard E. Bee to open negotiations. Bee was courteously received at Vera Cruz by General Victoria, who had been instructed by the Mexican government to treat him as a private individual and to get from him in writing a statement of his objects.
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If he came as a commissioner from Mexico's rebellious colonists, the government might consider his proposals; but if he came to treat for recognition, the government would ignore him, and Victoria should request him to depart. Bee accomplished nothing, and sailed from Vera Cruz on June 1 in a French vessel bound for Havana. He was encouraged by his experience and thought the day not distant "when a definite treaty boundary will be established between Mexico and Texas, consecrated as it must be by a lasting peace." As for an invasion of Texas, Bee thought it was preposterous :
"They have no navy ; they have not a dollar in the treasury ; they have not paid their officers or men for years ; they owe Great Britain $60,000,000; they are paying France $200,000 every two * months. * * Where, then, are they to get money to anni- hilate Texas? Sir, the question is settled."
Following Bee's withdrawal from Vera Cruz the Texan govern- ment became convinced that the government really desired peace. This conviction was induced by representations which James Treat of New York made to Gen. James Hamilton, who was representing Texas as a commissioner in placing the $5,000,000 loan. Treat said that he had received information through a friend in Mexico, an Ital- ian gentleman named Vitalba. This friend later came to New Orleans and had a conference with Treat and Bee, who had now reached that place on his return from Vera Cruz. From New Orleans Treat went to Texas and was commissioned to proceed to Mexico and negotiate for peace on the basis of recognition as a sine qua non. Recognition being granted, the only question remaining would be that of boundary. Texas would insist on the statutory boundary of December 19, 1836, following the Rio Grande from its mouth to its source and extending thence northward to the forty-second parallel. For this line Texas was willing to pay Mexico $5,000,000, which Treat could disburse as seemed desirable, using as much as might be necessary in "secret service" work. At the same time Mexico might be sounded on a boundary which would follow the Rio Grande up to El Paso, and thence proceed due westward to the Gulf of California and the Pacific ocean. After the settlement of these two questions the agent might take up the negotiation of a treaty of amity and commerce.
Treat first returned to New York, and thence made his way to Mexico. He arrived at Vera Cruz November 28, 1839, and reached the capital two weeks later. Through the British charge, Sir Richard Pakenham, he established unofficial communication with the govern- ment and placed his proposal before it. For a time he believed that the prospect of success was good ; but after a year of alternating hope and discouragement he abandoned his vain task and embarked for Galveston. He died before reaching his destination on November 30, 1840.
Two weeks before Treat's death the British government signed a convention with the Texan minister at London agreeing to offer mediation in Mexico for the recognition of Texas. Hoping that this might induce a more conciliatory mood in the Mexican government, Lamar commissioned James Webb to proceed to Vera Cruz with full VOL. 1-22
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powers to negotiate a treaty. At Vera Cruz, however, he was not allowed to land, and communication with Pakenham at Mexico revealed the fact that the government had rejected the British offer of mediation.
In the meantime, the Federalists in northern Mexico had been making overtures to Texas. First they desired to transport arms through the republic, and later they proposed an alliance. They planned to detach the northern states from Mexico, and went so far as to declare the independence of the republic of the Rio Grande in
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January, 1840. The Texan government declined to have anything to do with this movement, but a considerable force of Texan volunteers joined the Federalists and participated in several rather serious bat- tles.
Lamar's administration saw the only attempt that the Texans ever made to realize the boundary fixed by the law of December 19, 1836. The chief city in New Mexico was Santa Fe, on the east side of the Rio Grande, and therefore within the limits claimed by Texas. Between Santa Fé and St. Louis, Missouri, a valuable trade had long existed, and the strongest motive influencing Lamar seems to have been the desire to turn the profits of this trade to Texas. On April 14, 1840, he wrote a letter to "the citizens of Santa Fé," reminding them that Texas had "entered the great family of nations" and been
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recognized by the United States and France, while other powers of Europe were ready to extend the right hand of fellowship ; our popu- lation was rapidly increasing by immigration from Europe and the United States ; "and our commerce extending with a power and celer- ity seldom equaled in the history of nations. Under these auspicious circumstances, we tender to you a full participation in our blessings." He hoped that this communication would be received in the same spirit of kindness and sincerity in which it was dictated and expressed the hope that he should be able to send commissioners to them in September "to explain more minutely the condition of our country. of the sea-board, and the correlative interests, which so emphatically recommend, and ought perpetually to cement, the perfect union and identity of Santa Fe and Texas."
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