USA > Texas > History of Texas : from 1685 to 1892, volume 2 > Part 16
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been at fault ; but his patriotism cannot be questioned. The fact that in 1850 the United States paid Texas ten millions of dollars for the New Mexican territory, is a sufficient attesta- tation of the wisdom of Lamar in his attempt to peacefully unite it with the destinies of Texas.
During the year 1841 the Indians were less bold than for several years before. The terrible chastisements they had received had taught them caution, and their depredations were confined to small bands. A few expeditions against them were practically fruitless, as, on discovering parties penetrating their country, they fled beyond pursuit.
In the elections of 1841, there was considerable interest, somewhat sectional, as to the Presidency. Gen. Houston and ex-President Burnet were the opposing candidates. The eastern and central sections, much the most populous, sup- ported Gen. Houston. The west and the frontier preferred Burnet, being opposed to Gen. Houston's idea of treating and trading with the wild Indians until they were taught more thoroughly the white man's power. But Burnet had to bear a full share of the failure of Lamar's administration to estab- lish a currency ; or rather its failure to prevent government treasury notes depreciating to almost nothing, and still con- tinuing their issue. The failure of the Santa Fe expedition, or its assumed failure in advance of its actual occurrence, was also a heavy weight on Burnet, whose purity and patriotism no one questioned. And above all this, a considerable major- ity of the whole people regarded Gen. Houston as the ablest, wisest and safest man in the country ; and believed that he would be the means of inaugurating a better financial system. Under the circumstances, from the inception of the canvass, his election was a foregone conclusion. He was elected by- a vote of about two to one. The contest for the Vice-Presi- dency was independent of that for the Presidency. The candidates were General Edward Burleson and Memucan Hunt. Burleson was elected by a large majority.
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Congress assembled in Austin November 1st, 1841. Presi- dent Houston and Vice-President Burleson were installed December 13th. General Burleson was dressed in a com- plete suit of highly dressed and ornamented buckskin, while General Houston's stately form never appeared more majestic.
Early in 1840, President Lamar entered into an agreement with a commissioner from the revolted state of Yucatan in Mexico, by which the combined navy of Texas became allies to that State, Yucatan paying all expenses pertaining to such aid.1 On the 24th of June, 1840, under this agreement, there sailed from Galveston for Yucatan a naval fleet con- sisting of the sloop Austin of twenty guns as a flagship under Commodore Edwin W. Moore; the steamship Zavala, .
1 As a matter of convenient reference, here follows a list of the officers of the Texian navy covering the period referred to :
Captains Charles E. Hawkins, Jeremiah Brown, Wm. Hurd, Wm. Brown and Thomas F. Mckinney.
Commanders: George W. Wheelwright, Henry L. Thompson and I. D. Boylan.
Lieutenants (of the Brutus) : Cassin, - Dearing G. W. Estis, Galligar, Lent M. Hitchcock, - Hoyt, James G. Hurd and - Mellus; (of the Invincible) Parry W. Humphries, - Johnson, - Lee, Joseph Sevey, - Newcomb, James Perry, -- Randolph; (of the Independence) J. K. P. Lathrop, J. W. Taylor, T. M. Taylor, Alex. Thompson, T. M. Thompson and F. B. Wright.
Surgeons: Chrisman, Dunn, Forest, O. P. Kelton, Knight, A. M. Levy, Leech, I. E. Woodruff.
Pursers : Norman Hurd, of the Brutus, F. T. Wells of the Invincible ; Henry Fisher of the Liberty, and - Lering of the Independence.
Sailing Master : Daniel Lloyd of the Invincible.
Midshipmen : W. Tennison, I. Pollock, D. H. Crisp, - Crosby, Harrison, A. A. Wait and - Cummings.
Marine Corps : F. M. Gibson, Captain of the Invincible, Arthur Robinson, Captain of the Brutus, F. Ward, First Lieutenant of the Invincible, Brooks, Second Lieutenant, and Wm. Francis, Second Lieutenant of the Invincible.
Vessels : Independence, eight guns, Invincible, eight guns, Brutus, eight guns, and the Liberty, four guns.
Privateers: Tom Toby, Captain Hoyt; and the Terrible, Captain Allen.
EDWARD BURLESON
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eight guns, Captain J. K. P. Lathrop ; the schooner San Jacinto, five guns, Lieutenant W. R. Postelle ; the schooner San Barnard, five guns, Lieutenant W. L. Williamson; the schooner San Antonio, five guns, Lieutenant Alexander Moore, and the brig Dolphin, Lieutenant John Rudd. The navy remained in the service of Yucatan for two years or more and then entered the mouth of the Mississippi and re- mained there for a considerable length of time. While there, a mutiny occurred on the schooner San Antonio, resulting in the trial and execution of several persons. In August, 1842, the San Antonio, Captain Brennan, again sailed for Yucatan without the knowledge or authority of the government of Texas, but, supposedly by authority of Commodore Moore, for the purpose of collecting the amounts due and unpaid by Yucatan. No tidings were ever received of her fate.
About the time the Texas navy entered the Mississippi, President Houston declared the ports of Mexico in a state of blockade. The Zavala and the San Barnard were wrecked in Galveston Bay. The other vessels remained so long in the Mississippi that President Houston ordered them to repair to Galveston for instructions. On non-compliance with the order, Commodore Moore was ordered to report in person to the government of Texas, but he failed to comply with the order, claiming that he had invested largely of his own means in repairing the vessels and was unwilling to leave them. Thus situated, President Houston sent a secret message to Congress which was considered in secret session, and on the 16th of January, 1843, a secret act was passed providing for the sale of the navy. Messrs. James Morgan and Wm. Bryan were appointed by President Houston as commissioners to take possession of the vessels and convey them to Galveston. Commodore Moore refused to deliver them to the commission- ers, but declared his intention of taking them to Galveston ; and, with Mr. Morgan on board, actually started for that port with the Wharton and the Austin. On reaching the Balize,
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they received such information as caused Mr. Morgan to con- sent to a cruise to the east of Yucatan. This act of Commis- sioner Morgan, occupying so confidential a position under the President, very naturally aroused the indignation of the latter ; whereupon he issued a proclamation suspending Moore from command and ordering the ships directly to Texas. Or receipt of this proclamation the vessels, seeing that disobed- ience would subject them to the charge of piracy if they con- tinued hostilities, promptly returned to Galveston. In this time they had made a gallant fight and won a splendid victory over a Mexican war steamer in front of Campeche, compel- ling it to seek refuge in a harbor further south.
CHAPTER XX.
Houston's Second Administration - Inaugurated December 13th, 1841 1- Removal of the Seat of Government - Mexican Invasion of 1842- The Somervell Expedition - The Battle of Mier - The Snively Expedition - Foreign Relations.
It will be seen that when General Houston entered upon his second term, December 13th, 1841, separated from his first by the three years term of General Lamar, he was confronted with grave difficulties, not the least of which was the de- pressed spirit of the people. The fate of the Santa Fe expedi- tion was unknown, but grave apprehensions were entertained. The treasury was empty, with an enormous outstanding irre- deemable issue of treasury notes, current only at home at a ruinous discount. Receivable for taxes and custom-house dues, as they were, there was no promise of their reduction. This created a nominal debt of several million dollars, includ- ing the purchase of naval vessels, and the expenses of the Santa Fe expedition.
In his message to Congress, reviewing the present de- plorable condition of the country, the President submitted recommendations, which, he said, " found their justification
1 Sam Houston, President, December, 1841, to December, 1844; Edward Burleson, Vice-President; Anson Jones, Secretary of State; George W. Hockley, first, and George W. Hill, second, Secretary of War and Marine; Wm. H. Dangerfield, first, and James B. Miller, second, Secretary of the Treasury; George W. Terrell, First, and Ebenezer Allen, Second, Attorney- General; Asa Brigham, Treasurer; Francis R. Lubbock and James B. Shaw, Comptrollers; Charles De Morse, Auditor; Thomas Wm. Ward, Commis- sioner of Land Office; James Reiley, Isaac Van Zandt and James P. Hen- derson, Ministers to the United States; Ashbel Smith, Minister to France ; Wm. H. Dangerfield, Minister to the Netherlands, Belgium, and the Hanse Towns; Samuel M. Williams and George W. Hockley, Commissioners to Mexico; Charles H. Raymond, Secretary of Legation to the United States.
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in necessity." He recommended " a total suspension of the redemption of its liabilities to a period sufficiently remote to enable the government to redeem such as it ought to redeem." " The evil," he said, " is upon us. While many just claims are thus deferred we can only refer our creditors to our inability to pay our debts."
A further remedy which he prescribed was the reduction of one half the State taxes and requiring that they and the import duties should be paid in par funds. He also advocated the issue of exchequer bills to the amount of $350,000, and the contraction of a loan to that amount, to be redeemable by 1,000,000 acres of lands lying in the Cherokee country in east Texas, reserved for that purpose.
President Houston favored a pacific policy towards the Indians, and recommended warehouses and trading posts where the Indians would feel free to come and trade, supply their wants, make treaties, receive presents, as evidences of good will, and return peacefully to their villages. He recom- mended a policy towards Mexico, strictly defensive. He deprecated the Santa Fe expedition, and the contract which the preceding administration had made in 1841, with Yucatan, then in revolt against Mexico, to aid them with the Texian navy, as calculated to irritate Mexico and disturb the negotiations by which it was vainly hoped the United States or Great Britian would be able to secure a recognition of Texian independence from that government.
The sixth Congress of the Republic met (preceding the inauguration, November 1st, 1841), and set to work assidu- ously to improve the financial condition of the government and to reform what they considered abuses. The President com- menced his official duties December 13th.
A committee of the house had, on the 6th, reported in condemnatory terms the unlawful expenditure of money by the preceding administration chiefly in fitting out the Santa Fe expedition, the fate of which did not become authoritatively
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known until the 18th of January, 1842. As a further measure of economy, on the 11th of December, by joint act of both houses, several offices were abolished and the salaries of those retained were reduced, resulting in a reduction from 1840 of $174,000.00 to $32,800.00 in 1842. It was further decreed that all paper redeemed by par funds should be canceled and, later, that by commissioners duly appointed those thus can- celed should be burned at the beginning of every month.
A project of raising money by a loan to Texas of $7,000,- 000.00, at six per cent, by Belgium, had been under considera- tion between Gen. James Hamilton and a commissioner of that government, upon terms which, had it succeeded, would have been ruinous to Texas. The people had been alternately discouraged by failures to obtain loans from abroad, and cheered by new and seemingly favorable plans. This one presented such complications, and, withal, such a degree of humiliation to the pride of Texas in its requirements, that President Houston virtually condemned it by his silence, merely presenting it to the Congress, which in turn refused to accept it. Congress had, however, on the 12th of the preced- ing January, repealed the law authorizing a $5,000,000.00 loan or less, thus saving Texas the mortification of having a proposition for a loan of any amount, refused.
As has been stated, on the 18th of January, 1842, tidings of the crushing final result of the Sante Fe expedition were brought to Congress in their minute and harrowing details, through the American consul at Sante Fe, Senor Alvarez. Seven months of anxious suspense had terminated in disaster far exceeding their worst forebodings. So carefully had the proclamation of Lamar been framed that a rejection of it by the people of Santa Fe was the worst the administration had looked for. Intense grief pervaded every portion of the Republic ; nor was the excitement confined to Texas, as several members of the expedition were citizens of the United States. Congress immediately proceeded to pass an act of most .
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extraordinary and extravagant character. No less than ex- tending the boundary line of Texas to take in the two Californias, the whole of the States of Chihuahua, Sonora and New Mexico with parts of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Durango and Sinaloa, all with a population of about two millions.
How far this mad legislation was intended to give vent to their indignation may be surmised. The impossibility of its achievement, must soon have awakened the more thoughtful to a sense of its absurdity. The act was sent to the President for his approval and there met the fate which was to be expected. Houston, of course, vetoed the bill. Even if it were possible to invade Mexico with the object of the bill in view, the success of such a scheme, undertaken for revenge, would destroy all hope of effecting such relationships with countries at peace with Mexico as were necessary to the ultimate prosperity of Texas and her establishment upon an equal footing with other nations, and suspend all diplomatic action with Great Britian. So far from increasing the respect of other nations for Texas, " they would, " the President said, " regard it as a legislative jest." Suc an enactment was calculated to increase the rigors of the imprisonment of their friends and possibly cause their immediate destruction. All the representations which the President was able to urge availed nothing. Congress passed the bill over the President's veto.
No act ever passed by the Texian Congress savored more of braggadocio and imbecility, and, as a matter of course, it came to naught, falling by its own weight.
Immediately upon receipt of the news of the disaster to the Santa Fe expedition, several members of which, as has been stated, were citizens of the United States, who had joined the party for mere adventure, the Texian Secretary of State, Anson Jones, laid the case before the government at Wash- ington. Secretary Daniel Webster urged that Mr. Powhattan Ellis (of Mississippi), American Minister to Mexico, should
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demand the immediate release of those who were citizens of the United States, and recommend in emphatic terms that the Texian prisoners should be spared further severe treatment at the hands of the Mexicans. These prisoners were con- nected, many of them, with families of distinction in the United States, and their names were well known in various parts of the Union.
Deep interest in their behalf was manifested in memo- rials to the United States government, and although the gov- ernment condemned the purpose of the expedition, they sent General Waddy Thompson, of South Carolina, to Mexico to make the demands of that government, which resulted in the immediate release of those who claimed citizenship in the United States, and pledges of civil treatment to the Texian prisoners.
General Houston's responsibilities at this time were heavy. At the moment when this Congress was passing those unreason- able enactments over his veto, he was anxiously awaiting the release of the Santa Fe prisoners, for the necessary expenses of which he could not control a dollar, either of private or public funds. He was also watching with intense anxiety, through the Texian Minister at Washington, for the moment when Texas might, without humiliation, indicate her readi- ness to be annexed to the United States, but at the same time resolved not to be abandoned by Great Britain and France; and for prudential reasons, he was anxious to avoid taking steps that would justify Mexico in renewing her aggressive incursions across the western border. They would thereby give encouragement to immigration and, by claiming that Mexico had abandoned the idea of reconquering Texas, increase the chances for annexation to the United States. President Tyler was known to be in favor of annexation, and the friends of the measure had been gradually increasing since her first rejection by the United States, but the Senate was obstinate in opposition to it. General Waddy Thomp-
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son was, in the meanwhile, in Mexico endeavoring to bring about peaceful relations. Great Britain - opposed to annex- ation - also lent her influence with Mexico for peace. But in the correspondence between British ministers, the Mexican authorities and President Houston, there was no recognition of the last mentioned, as " President," or of Texas as a " Republic." Great Britain had motives of her own for wishing to see Texas restored peaceably as a State of the Mexican Republic, in the share the thrifty inhabitants might take in the liquidation of a large debt to that country, besides the extension of monarchical territory on this continent, as well as diminishing slave territory. These negotiations, as well as those with the United States, required careful and shrewd diplomacy on the part of the President of the Republic. So delicate and hazardous was the situation he could scarcely admit his whole Congress into his fullest confidence, lest by some hasty action or speech, publicity might betray the neces- sary coquetry of the Texians with these three jealous powers.
Congress was not willing to pledge lands as security for the redemption of exchequer currency and this was not provided for. It adjourned on the fifth of February, 1842.
The Indians, since their signal defeat in 1838-39-40, had almost ceased their murderous depredations, the year 1841 being the first since 1836 to which this assertion can truly apply. Immigration had steadily increased, and all the material interests of the country had slowly but surely ad- vanced, and, in 1839, the initiative was taken for that grand system of land grants in support of a system of universal free education in the Republic which has since placed Texas second to no State in the world in that regard.
To facilitate a better comprehension of the foreign affairs of Texas, it is proper here to give a list, as near as may be, of those who, at different times and in various ways, repre- sented Texas abroad, from the beginning of the revolution in 1835 to annexation on the 19th of February, 1846.
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By the Consultation - the first revolutionary assembly - on the 13th of November, 1835, Dr. Branch T. Archer, Stephen F. Austin, and William H. Wharton, were elected commissioners to the United States to represent Texas in that country, by explaining the true state of affairs in Texas, soliciting aid in men, money and munitions of war, and in every appropriate way strengthening the cause of Texas. They were at once commissioned by Governor Henry Smith, but did not leave the mouth of the Brazos for New Orleans until the 27th day of December, reaching the latter city on the 4th of January, 1836. They performed their mission to the entire satisfaction of the country, and returned home in. June of the same year. Covering the same period and to a later date, Wm. Bryan rendered invaluable aid as local agent in New Orleans. By the Provisional Government, a little later, Thomas J. Chambers was authorized to raise volunteers in Kentucky, with authority to act otherwise as an exponent of the cause of Texas.
By President Burnet, in the summer of 1836, James Collinsworth and Peter W. Grayson were dispatched to the United States as commissioners to represent the interests of Texas at Washington and elsewhere. They were absent but a few months.
On the formation of the constitutional government, which was fully accomplished on the 22nd of October, 1836, Presi- dent Houston appointed Wm. H. Wharton as the first com- missioner and prospective minister to the United States. He left November 17th, 1836. A few months later Memucan Hunt was deputed as Minister Plenipotentiary to endeavor to secure the annexation of Texas to the United States, its independence having been previously acknowledged on the 3rd of March, 1837, by the approval of a joint resolution by President Andrew Jackson, his last official act. On the acknowledg- ment of Texian independence Mr. Wharton was recognized as regular minister. In the month of April or May, Mr. Whar-
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ton, at his own request, was relieved of his diplomatic duties, leaving Mr. Hunt alone in charge, who, however, was not presented till July 6th. On his way home, while on the gulf, Mr. Wharton was captured by a Mexican war vessel, and imprisoned at Matamoros, from which place he escaped and returned home in time to be re-elected to the Senate from which he had resigned at the time of his appointment as minister. Mr. Hunt continued to act, until succeeded by Dr. Anson Jones, who served until the beginning of 1838, and was succeeded by Richard G. Dunlap, and he soon afterwards by James Reiley and he by Isaac Van Zandt.
In 1837, President Houston dispatched James Pinkney Henderson as diplomatic agent to represent Texas in Great Britain and France, George S. McIntosh being secretary under him. W. F. Catlett was Secretary of Legation to the United States.
Under President Lamar's administration, from December 10th, 1838, to December 13th, 1841, Richard G. Dunlap and Bernard E. Bee were successively ministers to the United States with M. A. Bryan, Samuel A. Roberts, and Nathaniel Amory, respectively Secretaries of Legation. James Ham- ilton was appointed commissioner to Great Britain succeeding J. P. Henderson. William H. Dangerfield and George S. McIntosh were appointed ministers to France and Bernard E. Bee and James Webb ministers and agents to Mexico, with George L. Hammeken, Secretary. Bee and Webb, however, were not allowed to land at Vera Cruz and returned home. James Hamilton was sent as commissioner to treat with Hol- land, Belgium, Great Britain, France and the Hanse Towns, and, in 1840, secured the acknowledgment of the independ- ence of Texas by Great Britain, France and Belgium.
Samuel M. Williams, Albert T. Burnley, James Hamilton, and James Reiley were appointed commissioners to effect a foreign loan.
Under Houston's second administration, December 13th,
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1841, to December 19th, 1844, James Reiley, Isaac Van Zandt, and James Pinkney Henderson were successively ap- pointed ministers to the United States, with Charles H. Ray- mond Secretary of Legation. Ashbel Smith was appointed minister to France, Wm. H. Dangerfield minister to the Netherlands, Belgium and the Hanse Towns and Samuel M. Williams and George W. Hockley commissioners to Mexico. Messrs. Williams and Hockley effected a brief armistice.
Under President Anson Jones' administration, December 9th, 1844, to February 19th, 1846, George W. Terrill and Ashbel Smith were appointed ministers to Great Britain, France and Spain ; and James Reiley and David S. Kaufman, ministers to the United States, with William D. Lee as Secretary of Lega- tion. The first minister from the United States to Texas was Alcee Labranche of Louisiana, in 1837. He was succeeded at different times by George H. Flood, Joseph M. Eve, and William H. Murphy (all of whom died and were buried in Galveston ) and Duff Green, Mr. Howard of Indiana, Andrew J. Donelson of Tennessee, and Charles A. Wickliffe of Ken- tucky. In 1836, however, under a resolution of Congress, President Jackson had sent Mr. Moffat, as a special agent to visit and report upon the condition of affairs in Texas, as a precautionary measure before acknowledging the independ- ence of the young Republic. His report was altogether favorable, and, as already stated, the recognition occurred on the 3rd of March, 1837.
Under authority of Lord Palmerston, Prime Minister, on the 12th of April, 1837, Mr. Crawford, British consul at Tampico, arrived at Columbia, the temporary seat of govern- ment, for the purpose of reporting on the condition of Texas to the British premier. Late in 1839 Count Alphonse de Saligny arrived as charge d'affaires from France, and so con- tinued for some years. Having been Secretary of Legation at Washington, he had early in the year made a visit of observa- tion to Texas and reported favorably. On the 13th of May,
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