USA > Texas > History of Texas : from 1685 to 1892, volume 1 > Part 24
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" All here is in a train for peace. The war and speculating parties are entirely put down, and are preparing to leave the country. They should now be demanded of their respective chiefs, a few at a time. First, Johnson, Williamson, Travis and Williams ; and perhaps that is enough. Captin Martin, once so revolutionary, is now, thank God, where he should be, in favor of peace and his duty ; and by his influence, in a good degree, has peace been restored. But now they should be demanded. The moment is auspicious. The people are up. Say so, and oblige one who will never forget his true allegiance to the supreme authorities of the nation, and who knows that, till they are dealt with, Texas will never be quiet. Travis is in a peck of troubles. Dr. James B. Miller dis- claims his act in taking Anahuac, and he feels the breach. Don Lorenzo de Zavala is now in Columbia trying to arouse the people. Have him called for and he also will be delivered up. Williams, Baker and Johnson are now on a visit to him, and no doubt conspiring against the government. Fail not to move in this matter, and that quickly, as now is the time."
John W. Smith allowed Ugartechea to see this letter of Miller. That functionary, not being able to draw the line of distinction between an American tory and a true American, who can differ in opinion with his brother on a question of expediency and yet die for him on a question of principle, was so far misled by this epistle as to believe the Americans would yield up their countrymen to the tender mercies of drum-head Mexican courts-martial. Such a conception was simply appalling to every Texian who was not, in soul and spirit, a tory. He therefore issued an order to all the Alcal- des of the country, commanding them to adopt all needful measures to secure the arrest of Zavala, Travis, John H. Moore, Jose M. J. Carbajal, Juan Zambrano, Williamson,
Travis, in the Alamo, to the colonies; and rendered valuable services in the Mexican invasions of 1842. It would be dishonorable, knowing them, not to state these facts.
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Johnson, Williams and Moseby Baker, and to deliver them to Captain Tenorio, at San Felipe. Carbajal and Zambrano were arrested and sent to Mexico. He informed them that if they refused they would be compromised, and he would send a military force to arrest the parties demanded. Ugartechea, however, was glad to be informed by some person of elastic conscience that the gentlemen sought had all left or were leav- ing the country, for, after his experience with Los Americanos and their rifles at Velasco, on the 26th of June, 1832, he had no idea of risking any ordinary number of his dragoons, on a hostile mission, along the highways of the colonies. Prac- tically, the scheme of arrest ended with this paper fusilade.
In July committees of safety and correspondence, and in favor of a general consultation, were formed in Nacogdoches, San Augustine, Teneha (Shelby, ) Bevil and Liberty. At the meeting in Nacogdoches, Gen. Sam Houston offered a series of resolutions, which were adopted, in favor of the constitution of 1824, but breathing the spirit of liberty and unqualified opposition to military rule. So, step by step, the country was rapidly unifying in opposition to despotism and, though yet unseen by many, drifting into the channel which flowed inevitably into the stream of independence.
There was found at San Felipe a sort of advisory commit- tee, composed of two or three different persons from as many municipalities. It was rather a nondescript organiza- tion, composed of men of different views, and though assum- ing in its later days, the title of General Council, amounted to little, as the people looked to their respective committees of safety, men of their own selection, for information and. advice. By the middle of August every municipality had such a committee and all were committed to the election of a convention, under the improvised title of a General Consulta- tion, a title rather facetiously adopted as a tub to the Mexican whale which had a holy horror of a Convencion, as meaning revolution, while Consultacion with them signified something
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like an assemblage of motherly old dames at a tea party. The Texians, practical men as they were, cared little for mere words and kept their eyes on the " substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen."
In July, Ugartechea reached San Antonio with five hundred troops, the first installment of a large force intended by Santa Anna to overrun and overawe the country and expel from it every American who had come in since the iron decree of April 6th, 1830. Captain Thompson, an Englishman, in the Mexican naval service, in command of the armed schooner, El Correo, was sent to Anahuac to inquire into the Tenorio affair. Instead of that he assumed the attitude of a vulgar and insolent braggart, violated his orders, captured a vessel floating the American flag, and committed numerous other outrages. The merchant schooner, San Felipe, was fitted out under Captain Hurd, who captured both Thompson and his vessel and sent them to New Orleans as pirates, where Thompson was imprisoned some time and then released. He returned to Matamoros and was kind on various occasions to Texian prisoners and, strange to say, became so enamored of Texian character that he abandoned Mexico and became an enthusiastic citizen of Texas.
Thus before the expiration of July there was a general agreement throughout the country to elect on the 5th of Oc- tober, delegates from each municipality to a general Consult- ation to assemble in San Felipe on the 16th of that month. But, in addition to what had been so generally agreed upon, on the 7th of August, the exiled patriot, Lorenzo de Zavala, published an earnest address to the people in its favor, and on the 15th of August, to place its success beyond all doubt and secure perfect unanimity, a large meeting was held at Colum- bia, over which William H. Wharton presided and of which William T. Austin was secretary. By this unusually large and talented gathering of the people of Columbia, Brazoria and the surrounding country, it was :
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" Resolved, 1. That a consultation of all Texas, through her representatives, is indispensable.
" Resolved, 2. That a committee composed of fifteen per- sons, to be called a Committee of Safety and Correspondence for the jurisdiction of Columbia, be elected, and that they be instructed to prepare an address to all the jurisdictions of Texas, requesting them to co-operate with us in the call of a consultation of all Texas.
" Resolved, 3. That the committee communicate with all Texas in the most prompt manner, by sending confidential agents to each jurisdiction, and that said committee keep the people constantly advised of all political intelligence of gen- eral interest, and that they continue to act until displaced by the people or the Consultation.
" Resolved, 4. That we hold ourselves bound to pay our proportion of all expenses incurred by said committee in send_ ing expresses, printing, etc.
" Resolved, 5. That we invest the Committee of Safety and Correspondence, as our agents, with full power to represent the jurisdiction of Columbia ; to use the most efficient means to call a consultation, and to use all means in their power to secure peace and watch over our rights.
" Resolved, 6. THAT WE WILL NOT GIVE UP ANY INDIVIDUAL TO THE MILITARY AUTHORITIES."
The following gentlemen were selected said committee, viz .: John A. Wharton, Henry Smith, Warren D. C. Hall, Silas Dinsmore, James F. Perry, John G. McNeel, Robert H. Williams, William H. Jack, Francis A. Bingham, John Hodge, Wade Hampton Bynum, Branch T. Archer, William T. Austin, P. Bertrand and Isaac T. Tinsley. William H. Wharton was admitted to the committee.
This action, if any were needed, settled the question, though the people had already resolved in favor of the move- ment and fixed on the fifth of October as the day for electing the delegates. Through couriers these proceedings were
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known and sanctioned, inside of ten days, in every municipal- ity in Texas.
The question of a convention, under the title of " consult- ation," was therefore irrevocably settled throughout Texas, before the 25th of August, and almost everywhere from ten to twenty days earlier, and the people felt great relief, as the first grand step towards harmonious and organized opposition to the impending despotism had been taken. And while these matters had been transpiring, other steps had been and were still being taken, to organize the people in military companies. Dr. James B. Miller, Political Chief of the Brazos, and Henry Ruez, chief of the Nacogdoches department, had taken every step in their power to accomplish that object. General Sam Houston had been elected commander of the Nacogdoches department and had issued an inspiring address to the people. Every one, excepting such tories as James H. C. Miller ( who speedily departed to parts unknown), felt a new inspiration under the auspicious " signs of the times."
Here it is well to pause and ask the impartial reader to review the overwhelming grounds justifying the people in taking these measures of preparation for the defense of their homes and firesides, their wives and children. No free people known to history ever had stronger grounds for resisting oppression. Yet while this is true, it is equally true that men of intelligence and patriotism often differ widely in opin- ion, drawing dissimilar conclusions from the same combina- tion of facts. A striking illustration of this truth is found just at this time in a letter from T. Jefferson Chambers to John J. Linn of Guadalupe Victoria, dated San Felipe, August 5th, 1835, in which he says: "I am informed that you are in a great state of alarm, fearful that the general government meditates an attack upon the colonies. This I regret exceedingly, as I am of opinion that your fears are groundless, and have probably proceeded from misstate- ments and causeless rumors. I have no doubt of the good
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disposition of the general government towards us, and it certainly would be bad policy in us to provoke an unnecessary war with a nation which has so generously adopted us as its children. I have no doubt that all the rumors and con- sequent bad feelings which have been created for a few months past, have been orginated by those who have desired to produce difficulties between the colonies and Mexico for particular purposes ; and that the whole will pass away in a short time from the bright prospects of Texas, like a vapor from before the sun, if the proper policy be pursued. The intelligence by the last mail was of the most favorable kind. A new Governor had been installed according to the 118th article of the constitution of the State, and tranquillity and peace are again returning. This ( Brazos) department and that of Nacogdoches, are determined not to be plunged into an unnecessary war with their adopted brethren, and certainly a revolution by force of arms is not the sound policy which Texas ought to pursue, when she would stand alone against the whole nation, and the war would assume the aspect of a struggle between foreigners and the Mexicans, and whose end would be that all parties would unite against her. Texas cannot, ought not, to dictate to the nation, of which it forms a very inconsiderable part, and the greater part of whose inhabitants were adopted but yesterday, and have scarcely made permanent tracks upon its soil. Therefore, I beseech you, do not involve yourself in needless difficulties, and tranquillize your fears until actual and unprovoked aggression be offered us, when we will unite and defend and sustain our- selves. And rely upon it, if we wait till then, we shall have no hostilities."
Seven days after this, Bonilla, Santa Anna's chief minister, wrote that the people of Texas had no rights but such as the nation might confer and that they would be compelled, by force, to submit to any changes in the government which the nation (Santa Anna and the centralists being considered the
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nation) might adopt. At that very moment, Cos, through Ugartechea, was demanding a number of the most distin- guished and patriotic citizens of Texas to be surrendered to the military and sent to the interior of Mexico for trial, in the language of Santa Anna, for " chastisement." The advance guard of a large Mexican force had been some time in San Antonio, to which frequent additions were made and it was notorious that Cos, with vengeance in his heart, and a large reinforcement with him, was on the eve of arriving. It was moreover declared by the military that they intended to enter the colonies, seize all demanded persons who were not sur- rendered, and expel all persons from the country who had come in violation of the prohibitory law of April 6th, 1830.
There were not wanting allegations that the writer of this remarkably mistaken and unprophetic letter had great per- sonal interest to influence his judgment in the fact that he was, as has been previously shown, the Superior Judge of Texas, of whom Austin, in 1835, wrote to Barrett: " In 1833, thirty square leagues of land were voted by the legislature to a young man ( who had previously received a grant of eleven leagues ) as pay for one year's salary as judge." Yet this judge, T. J. Chambers, never held a court. A few months later, however, he tendered his services and a loan to Texas and, by authority of the provisional government, proceeded to Kentucky to raise troops in which he accomplished much, laboring with patriotic zeal to secure the independence of the country. He was simply one of many whose views were revo- lutionized by the current of events, and whose loyalty and patriotism in the final analysis of war, were questioned by none.
The effect of this letter upon Mr. Linn, to whom it was addressed, was in nowise convincing, as is shown in a letter written by him at Victoria on the 29th of September, to Major James Kerr, on the Lavaca, in which he says :
" Juan Amador has just arrived from Goliad and says that
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the Alcalde of that place was struck and whipped in the street by a military officer, for not being able to get carts ready as soon as he wanted them to take those arms and munitions to Bexar. Juan was also insulted as being one of the ' Valientes ' of Guadalupe, the soldiers saying it would be but a short time until they would visit us and take what little in money we had, etc. The new officers coming with the arms said that as soon as General Cos could reach Bexar it would be the signal to march for San Felipe. I think it now time to stop Senor Cos and take him prisoner to San Felipe, instead of his taking it. This may be said to be different from what I proposed in Matagorda, but things have changed."
Gritten, the associate messenger of Barrett to Cos, wrote on the 10th of September, from San Antonio, to Major Kerr and Dr. Francis F. Wells, on the Lavaca, sending some papers and requesting their transmission ? to Matagorda. After apologizing for his non-acquaintance with those gentle- men, he says: "Something ought to be done by the colonies collectively, either to give up the persons demanded or pre- pare for resistance, as the military authorities assure me positively that troops will march into the colonies whether or not the obnoxious individuals be given up, having for object, as they assert, not to disturb the peaceable inhabitants but the arrest of those individuals, the placing of troops on the frontier at the posts and towns, the support of their em- ployes (the troops) and the preventing of bad characters crossing into Texas from the United States. * Mili- tary preparations are making for marching into the colonies. Warlike stores and more troops and General Cos are expected to arrive in a few days."
While Gritten developed into an enemy of Texas, these statements proved to be true, although the march into the colonies was defeated by the bold course of the people of Gonzales, three weeks later.
We have now to record the most pleasing and joyful occur-
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rence to the people since 1833. On the first day of Sep- tember, 1835, at the mouth of the Brazos, Stephen F. Austin once more put foot on the land in whose wilderness, on that day, thirteen years and eight months before, he was the first to plant American civilization.
The secondary father of colonial Texas, a restored free- man, though shattered in health, was again at home and gladness covered the land. Exactly when or under what circumstances he was released, cannot be stated, for his promised full report of his mission to the people, from the rapid succession of events during the short remainder of his life, seems not to have been made, and no writer, so far as known to the author, has ever given these facts. A sugges- tion by one biographer that he was released under an amnesty act passed early in 1835, is negatived by the fact that that act was strictly limited to native Mexicans, a clause to which the legislature at Monclova objected, demanding that it should apply to the colonists of Texas. It seems more reasonable and in the nature of things, that when Santa Anna found nothing further to be gained in furtherance of his schemes by Austin's longer detention, he allowed him to return home ; and as he came by sail to New Orleans and thence in like manner to Texas, he probably left the city of Mexico in the last ten days of July, about two years and a month after his arrival there and seventeen months after his first imprison- ment, while his entire absence from Texas, from about May first, 1833, to September first, 1835, covered two years and four months - twenty-eight months of portentous interest to Mexico and to Texas.
CHAPTER XXX.
Complications in regard to Robertson's colony - The bitter attacks of Robertson, in final analysis, misleading, as Austin had no control in management.
It must be borne in mind that while nearly fourteen years had been added to the scroll of time since Mr. Austin began colonization in Texas, he had in fact been only about ten years in the country, the remainder of the time being consumed in his two prolonged trips to Mexico. Hence it is the more remarkable that the affairs of his colony were managed with such great skill and that he enjoyed in such an unusual degree the confidence and esteem of his colonists. That he was ably assisted and sustained by his secretary, and in one grant his partner, Samuel M. Williams, we have his own assurances and the testimony of their contemporaries. His controversies in regard to Rob- ertson's colony, and his course in regard to Edwards' colony, to a certain extent, built up prejudices and bitter opposition to him. It was claimed by Sterling C. Robertson, and be- lieved by many that he (Robertson ) had been outrageously treated by the State government, on false and malicious grounds ; and that when the Governor declared his contract, as successor to Robert Leftwich (the original empresario), and the Nashville company ( which held under Leftwich ), for- feited and annulled, it was wrong in Austin, then being a member of the legislature, to secure the transfer of the colo- nial privilege to himself and Samuel M. Williams. The complication was increased, when, a little later, this action was rescinded and Robertson's rights restored ; and yet still more, when still later, the latter act, without apparent cause, was
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STERLING C. ROBERTSON (Empresario)
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abrogated and Austin and Williams re-instated. It is shown, however, that Robertson introduced over two hundred fam- ilies and finally received the corresponding premium lands ; that he was among the delegates who signed the Declaration of Independence and was in the first senate of the republic and also a member several years later, abundant evidence that he possessed the confidence of his fellow-citizens in the colony, then (after the Republic was established ) known as Robertson and Milan counties, now embracing eight or ten counties. On the other side, on the second of December, 1836, only twenty-five days before his death, in a written communication to the first senate, of which as stated, Rob- ertson was a member, Austin gave his version of the whole matter. He claimed that the government had lost confidence in Robertson and ordered his expulsion from the country ; that he intervened in his behalf at one time and had his rights restored ; and finally, when Robertson's case became hopeless, as a means of protecting his own colonists below by settling the country above, he sought and obtained for himself and Samuel M. Williams, the right to colonize an immense coun- try, covering the country from the Colorado to near the Trinity above the San Antonio and Nacogdoches road. There is another side to this question. The original grant was to Robert Leftwich for the Nashville company, granted April 25th, 1825, and allowed six years in which to settle eight hundred families. In 1827 it was confirmed to the Nashville company. Time passed. In 1830 Major Sterling C. Robert- son, as the assignee and successor of Leftwich and the Nash- ville company, arrived (on a second trip to the country ) with about two hundred families; but through the intrigues of others, the contract was annulled by the Governor and the families virtually denied the right of settlement. Some of them, at the request of Austin, settled in his colony. The story is a long one and cannot be given in full; but, justice to Major Robertson and his descendants in Texas, demands a
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brief recapitulation. He was a grandson of General James Robertson of the revolutionary army, a Virginian, and in his veins flowed the blood of the Monroes and Randolphs. Gen- eral James Robertson was the first settler of middle Tennessee and the founder of Nashville, and is honored in the annals of that State as, in the highest degree, a noble man and patriot. His Texas grandson, feeling himself wronged in regard to his colony, made a determined fight to secure his rights and defend his reputation. To this end he sought and procured the warm testimonials of numerous persons and presented the same to the Governor of Coahuila and Texas. These testi- monials, in the original Spanish, are among the archives of Coahuila in Saltillo. Certified translations of them, procured in 1869, and two or three years ago were placed in my hands. I condense the substance of a number of documents that throw light on the controversy : --
" MOST EXCELLENT SIR : Sterling C. Robertson, a member and agent of the Nashville company organized to colonize lands in the department of Texas, respectfully shows your Excel- lency that he is entitled to have a certified copy of the peti- tion of Mr. Stephen F. Austin, in which he asks the confirmation of his last contract in which are included the lands of said Nashville company and other documents, which are the occasion of his solicitude.
STERLING C. ROBERTSON."
Monclova, March 22, 1834."
The first document, certified by Thomas Bassett, Alcalde, San Felipe, December 17, 1830, is a power of attorney from Samuel M. William to Stephen F. Austin, to represent him in getting a colonial grant above Austin's colony.
The second document, dated February 4, 1831, is the ap- plication of Austin, for himself and Williams, to settle eight hundred families within the following bounds, which included
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and swallowed up the colony of the Nashville company, or Robertson's colony, viz. :
Commencing on the left bank of Lavaca Creek, ten leagues from the coast ( now in Lavaca County ), thence up said creek in a westerly course to its head; thence in a direct line to the northwest to an intersection with the Bexar and Nacogdoches road, known as the upper road and following the same in a northeast course to the Colorado River (i. e., Bastrop ), thence up the right bank of said river to the mouth of the Brazos Salado, or Colorado, which enters about fifteen leagues above the mouth of Pecan or Nueces River [this point can only be the mouth of the main Concho. The designation given as Brazos Salado, is an absurdity]; from the mouth of said Bra- zos Salado, in a direct line northeast to the ridge dividing the waters of the Brazos and Trinidad (Trinity ), and following Said ridge to the southeast to the main heads of the San Jacinto River; and thence down the meanderings of this river to a line ten litoral leagues from the coast ; thence following said line westerly to the place of beginning.
As before said, this vast territory embraced the lands of Robertson's colony, and hence arose the trouble. The special features of the grant need not be stated, except that exceptions, or exemptions, were made in regard to some prior local grants and it was not to attach to Robertson's grant till the assumed expiration of his contract on the 15th of the following April, two months later, which, however, Robert- son disputed, as the State had most unjustly interfered with his effort to fulfill his contract.
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