USA > Texas > The history of the republic of Texas, from the discovery of the country to the present time; and the cause of her separation from the republic of Mexico > Part 15
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189
THE ANGLO-TEXAN CONVENTION.
was a slave-holding citizen of the United States, must, as such, be aware that the boundary between the United States and the Mexican province of Texas, has long since been satisfactorily defined and recognized by the law of nations. For surely he cannot allude in his despatch to the boundary of Texas as independent, while he ac- knowledges the existence of hostilities between the Texans and the parent state, or be allowed to throw off allegiance to his country, and appear at the court of St. James's as a citizen of Texas, so created for the express purpose of disturbing the boundaries of Mexico. Lord Palmerston must, doubt- Jess, have seen the drift of the Texan envoy, which is simply to break up the existing order of things, that he may open a door to his acquisitive countrymen that shall eventually lead them to the possession of the treasures of Mexico, as well as those of the Pacific. However, the convention between England and Texas, of which General Hamilton's despatch was accepted by Lord Palmerston as the basis, is simply a recognition by the British government of hostilities pending (at the very moment the treaty was signed) between Mexico and her rebellious colonists in Texas; and as it is generally reported that Lord Palmerston's Texan treaty has not yet been ratified by the Bri- tish government, this convention cannot be looked upon as a recognition of the independence of the republic of Texas by Great Britain, a subject which is not to be handled without the most profound
190
THE ANGLO-TEXAN CONVENTION.
consideration, replete as the colonial history of England is with the injuries and dangers that ac- crue to a mother country from the interferences of a foreign power in disputes between a parent state and her colonies. Where, it may be asked, are these injuries and dangers more distinctly exhibited than in the colonial history of England ? But while we repudiate such unjustifiable interferences, stig- matize them as unpardonable, and are the first to seek the fullest atonement, let it not be said that England has prematurely and unjustly interfered in this case, which is immediately connected with one of a similar nature, that has placed the life of a British subject in imminent peril, and may there- fore be appropriately cited as a case in point. On the contrary, now that the period so peremptorily defined by the Texan envoy for the ratification of a treaty of amity and commerce between Mexico and Texas, has expired without the ratification of such a treaty taking place, her Majesty's government should accept the refusal of Mexico to surrender her sovereignty to the Texan territory, as a strict con- firmation of the existence of hostilities between the two countries, and should endeavour to obtain from Gen. Hamilton some information as to the course the Texans intend to pursue, remembering that the interests of that "class of her Majesty's subjects who have long suffered under the bad faith of Mexico," have suffered most from protracted civil wars, in which the Anglo-Americans and Texans
PROTEST OF THE MEXICAN CHARGE D'AFFAIRES. 191
have taken an active part, in direct violation of every private contract and international law. The sentiments of the Mexican nation on the sub- ject of the recognition of the independence of Texas may be gleaned, moreover, from the following extract from the protest of the Mexican Chargé d'Affaires, addressed to Lord Palmerston, and sub- sequently approved by the Mexican government :-
"The government of Mexico ratifies the protest of the Charge d'Affaires (Mexican) to Lord Palmerston, adding that the ac- knowledgment of a faction of adventurers as an independent nation is contrary to the principles which Lord Palmerston, conjointly with the four powers, has maintained in Europe in the Turco-Egyptian question, in which no adventurer, but an illus- trious prince, a native born in the country, endeavoured to with- draw himself from the sovereignty of the Grand Seignor of Constantinople. That the conduct of Lord Palmerston was a breach of the harmony and good faith, which was considered also by the Spanish-American States to be a characteristic of the British government, so that it was impossible to conceive that, in the face of existing treaties of alliance and friendship between Great Britain and Mexico, by which the integrity of the Mexican territory is acknowledged, how should be recognized as a sovereign people, not a fraction of the same territory and its primitive inhabitants, but a handful of adventurers, who in the sight of all the world have entered upon the Mexican territory, bringing slaves with them to re-establish slavery in a country in which by law slavery was abolished. That in the treaty between Lord Palmerston and the agent of Texas there is no provision for the abolition of slavery ; a condition which the English government has exacted from all the Spanish-American governments in the treaties celebrated with them. That the terri- tory of Texas is mortgaged for the foreign debt of Mexico, and to
192
THE TEXAN LOAN JOB.
permit the alienation of a property so sacred, against the will of its owner, and encouraging the aggressors with moral force, which Lord Palmerston has done by the recognition of their independ- ence, is to attack every principle of justice and international right, and will be a most ominous precedent for the new world.
"In consequence, the Mexican government, firm in the justice of its cause, and resolved to preserve the integrity of its territory, will commit to force the execution of the national will, whose energy is daily displayed in the resources voluntarily proffered by all the citizens, and in the progressive amelioration of the revenues of the state ; and the English people will render justice to Mexico when it is seen that the anomalous conduct of the British ministry does not prevent her from fulfilling the obligations which she has contracted, and will see besides that the Mexican nation knows how to distinguish between the British people and the government."
The last paragraph of this protest is by no means complimentary to Lord Palmerston. Although true, it is nevertheless sincerely to be hoped that the House of Commons will, in some way, acknowledge the friendly feeling of the Mexican nation towards their constituents, and that they will devise some measures to secure the continuance of the friendly disposition of Mexico towards Great Britain.
Finally, Texas, in the exercise of her nominal and would-be de facto independence, has strained every point to obtain a loan of 5,000,000 dollars from England. Having failed in London, Holland was tried, with no better success ; and recently Ge- neral Hamilton has modestly asked but for 2,000,000 dollars. In what manner it is intended to apply this money, will be the subject of another chapter, while I
193
HINTS TO CAPITALISTS.
will venture to offer a word of advice to capitalists on this subject, which is, first to inquire (not as regards Texas only, but every other country) into the nature and extent of the natural and artificial resources of the country that makes such an at- tempt : and secondly, into the means possessed or proposed for their development before they ad- vance their money, which has already found its way across the Atlantic much quicker than it will find its way back.
This remark, though applied to North America generally, may be more strictly applied to Texas, where the spontaneous resources, and indeed the soil itself, which, liberally offered to British capi- talists as a security for money, and for sale to others, at 15s. per acre, is still in the possession of the native Indians. The successful development of its agricultural capabilities for the cultivation of cotton, sugar, indigo, coffee, tobacco, rice, &c., must depend on Negro labour, which I think the reader will be convinced, on reading the subsequent chapters, Texas will not be able much longer to obtain. These are facts, which, if overlooked by capitalists, they must inevitably lose every shilling they advance to Texas; and surely it is to be hoped that the hard-earned millions of England will not again be advanced on the mere recommendation of our North American bubble-mongers, or European revolutionists and political demagogues. The evils of so doing are at this moment ripe, and their
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194
THE HIGH TARIFF.
baneful tendency too generally felt, to need any further comment on the subject.
The geographical position of Texas has, more than once, been alluded to by the Texan advocates as presenting innumerable advantages to capitalists, and to the governments of Europe, who may be anxious to work a fiscal revolution in Mexico and the United States; but without descanting on the moral turpitude of such an object, it cannot be denied that the millions which have been lent to both those countries were advanced for the express purpose of their internal improvement, thereby promoting their external resources, so as best to secure their own prosperity, and yield the return sought by their creditors. The policy of both these countries seems to be that of keeping up prohibitory duties !
Mexico, when she had shaken off the yoke of the mother country, found a mercantile polity exclu- sive in favour of Spain calculated to confine to her all commerce, and had to open her ports to foreign nations, under a system becoming her as an independent nation. She was filled, some thirty years ago, with a population of which two-thirds were demi-civilized Indians, who were almost the only labourers and cultivators of the soil, not living on the produce of the chase, like the Indians of North America. These Indians, though industrious, could not afford to clothe themselves and families, owing to the price of
195
THE MISTAKEN POLICY. OF MEXICO.
goods, on which duties were levied to the amount of 200 or 300 per cent. on prime cost. These high duties have more or less been continued to defray the increased expenses of the war of inde- pendence. Hence, then, Mexico, in all her revo- lutions, could never attempt to adequately lower her tariff; but hopes are now entertained of a great reduction whereby all classes will be able to clothe themselves, and the revenue will be vastly increased. The United States, with her manu- factures in their infancy, has pursued a similar system, and been compelled to forego the entire development of her agricultural resources, for the extension and general improvement of her manu- factures : and if any political economist, or person of common sense, can be led to believe that Texas either can, or will be suffered to become so for- midable to the United States and Mexico, and to the British merchant in both cases, as by admit- ting goods, duty free, to destroy the fiscal regula- tions of those countries, I lament exceedingly that I cannot, on taking an unbiassed view of the ques- tion, bring forward one point on which they can ground such a vain hope: on the contrary, it is by no means doubtful, that, as soon as the United States finds, which she must ere long, that Texas pretends first to ruin her manufactures, and then to become her most formidable rival in agricul- ture, she will take up such a position towards Texas as will convince her of the weakness of her
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196
NEW REPUBLIC OF RIO GRANDE.
real geographical position, and that it would be much easier to carry on a war across the Sabine than across the Rio Grande.
But the policy of the Texans is, and must be, war, so long as Mexico remains unsubdued, and until the last of the Native Indian tribes are exter- minated. Finding themselves without the least probability of reconciling the former, and having failed in the execution of all their plans for the speedy completion of the latter, they took a part in Canales' revolutionary schemes for the dismem- berment of Mexico.
In the summer of 1839 Canales attempted, with- out money or arms, to raise the long-fallen standard of federalism. Having witnessed the success of the Texan rebellion, he was induced to believe that Tamaulipus, his native state, was just as much en- titled to be declared an independent republic as Texas. He therefore collected a force of about 700 men, who first declared the states of Tamauli- pus, Coahuila, and Durango, an independent re- public, under the title of the Republic of Rio Grande, and then elected Canales president. Immediately after his election Canales marched at the head of his followers to Laredo, a small town on the Rio Grande, where the insurgents remained to the month of April, 1840, when they were attacked and defeated by General Arista, who commanded a strong detachment of the centralist troops. Ca- nales, and a few of his followers, made good their
197
TEXAN PARTIZANSHIP.
retreat, directing their steps as fugitives towards the capital of Texas, where they arrived about the 1st of May, having secured the friendship of the Co- manches, and other Indian tribes, through whose territory they passed, by assuring them that he and his followers were nothing more than missionaries and traders. Canales soon enlisted the sympathy of the Texan government, and, after a few days spent in negotiations with the president of Texas, which were strictly private, Canales left Austin for Galveston, where he was followed. by the Texan president, who arrived at Galveston on 20th of May, when the private negotiations were renewed, and continued between the contracting parties to the 25th, when Canales embarked on board a Texan armed schooner, the San Jacinto, Captain Postelle, for Live Oak Point, a small settlement in Western Texas, to make arrangements for the disembarka- tion at that point of 500 volunteers, which he raised in Texas, with the consent of the Texan govern- ment during his short visit. Canales had but one Mexican officer with him, Colonel Caravajal, who was formerly a surveyor in Texas, when under the Mexican government. He, however, engaged Ge- neral Baker and Colonel Wigginton, with several other Texan officers of inferior rank. The first place to be attacked by Canales was Matamoros, a Mexican garrison, about thirty miles from the mouth of the Rio Grande. On the 28th the first draft of volunteers followed Canales, in two schooners, con-
198
TERRITORY OF RIO GRANDE.
voyed by two Texan armed schooners ; and on the 30th another draft arrived at Galveston, from the interior of Texas, for the same service. This draft consisted of thirty-two men : and on the 8th of June another body of men sailed from New Orleans, for the same destination. The exact extent of territory claimed by the republic of Rio Grande is as follows. From the river Nueces (the western boundary of Texas) on the east, to the western boundary-line of the state of Durango, on the west, and from the Gulf of Mexico, on the south, to the northern boundary of the state of Chihuahua, on the north.
Canales had scarcely turned his back before the result of his private conference with the Texan ruler was divulged, and was currently reported as follows :- The entire Texan fleet, consisting of one corvette, two brigs, and the three schooners already alluded to, were to be employed in the federalist service in the first instance; but so soon as the latter possessed themselves of a seaport, the whole fleet was to have been sold or handed over to Rio Grande by the Texan government, on the following terms :---
" Ist. The president of the republic of Rio Grande (General Canales) pledges himself to declare the independence of the re- public at Rio Grande, and to declare and establish the state and federal constitution of 1821, so soon as he shall have established his head quarters within the limits of the territory claimed by the said republic.
" 2nd. That the republic of Rio Grande shall immediately
199
DISMEMBERMENT OF MEXICO ATTEMPTED.
after the said declaration of independence recognize the indepen- dence of Texas.
" 3rd. The republic of Texas pledges herself to aid the fede- ralists of Rio Grande in their struggle for independence, directly her independence is recognized by the republic of Rio Grande."
Thus the total dismemberment of Mexico was to have been speedily completed under the specious pretence of a regard for the constitution of 1824. Every petty state in the northern and eastern parts of Mexico was to have been invited to raise the standard of rebellion ; and in the event of their being molested by the central republican govern- ment of Mexico, it was arranged that they should annex themselves to Texas under the federal system referred to.
While the Texan government was anxiously looking forward to the completion of this their dar- ling object, the dismemberment of Mexico, Colonel Wigginton hastened away to the United States to raise 2,000 men for the military service of Rio Grande. Who was to have taken command of these troops, was not known. Canales being only a village lawyer, could not be their leader. In fact he was nothing more than a puppet in the hands of the Texan government, which had raised him to the position he then held to secure the influence he possessed in the states that were to form the new republic. These states, it was ge- nerally believed, would have declared in favour of
200
CANALES' CONVENTION WITH REYES.
federalism, all Mexico would have been convulsed, and the British capital invested in the mines of Durango and Zacatecas, and in commerce, might have been lost, and all British interests in Mexico seriously compromised.
The Texan militia was rapidly organizing, at this period, throughout the republic, for the ostensible purpose of chastising the Comanche Indians, who were concentrating all their force between the rivers San Antonio and Guadalupe, in western Texas, in order to revenge the massacre of their chiefs at San Antonio in the month of April. The Che- rokee Indians were also preparing to commence hostility against Texas. The troops on the west of the Brazos were ordered to march against the Kicka- poos and other Indian tribes, who were engaged in hostilities with the settlers in Robertson country, about the three forks of the Trinity river ; in fact, the affairs of Texas generally assumed a very war- like appearance. Canales, however, no sooner found the prospects of success somewhat doubtful, than he endeavoured to accommodate matters with the government of Mexico. And on the 6th of November, 1840, a convention was signed between General Reyes (commanding part of Arista's army) and Canales, and by the terms, not only was the cause of federalism and all notion of the new re- public of Rio Grande abandoned, but Canales and all the Mexicans under him joined General Reyes,
201
CANALES' CONVENTION WITH REYES.
and have since actually made war upon the Texans, (whose duplicity they discovered,) in conjunction with Arista's army.
Part of the Texan and American adventurers who were taken from Texas and the United States were surprised and made prisoners, but the remain- der had intimation of the nature of the convention, and fled in all directions back to Texas. Thus ended the first partisan war of the Texans, and so will every other, where the undisciplined hordes invade their neighbours, the sovereigns of the soil they have usurped so ungratefully.
-
CHAPTER V.
Present population of Texas -- Whites-Indians and Negroes --- Misrepresentations respecting the white population-Statistical table of towns and population of Texas in 1839 and 1840 -- Aristocratical Land-owners, Usefuls, Contemptibles or White Niggers, and Loafers -- Oppressive system of taxation-Houses open to visitors -- The Texan ladies -- The rising generation --- Texan salutations-The Texan Planters-The former and present religion of Texas-A graphic sketch of a Texan gambler-Inns and boarding houses, &c., &c.
THE present inhabitants of Texas consist of three distinct classes, Anglo-American, or whites, about 54,08S; Indians, 80,000; and Negroes, 10,000 to 12,000, in all 1 46,088. The first profess civilization ; the second wander over the face of the country, and contend for their primitive rights, lands, and free- dom ; the third are exposed to the degradation and horrors of slavery in its worst forms.
There is not a subject connected with the history of Texas, that has been so grossly misrepresented, as that of the character and numbers of the white population, and this has obviously been done for several reasons. The exaggerated accounts com- menced with the scheme for the separation of Texas from Coahuila, which could only be mooted,
203
TABLE OF TOWNS AND POPULATION.
as it was in 1834, on the ground that Texas pos- sessed " the necessary elements to form a separate state," viz., "a population of 80,000 souls." To reach this standard, it was necessary to multiply hundreds by thousands ; and since the Texans have established their independence, they have been im- pelled to continue the estimate system on which they started first, to make it appear to the people of the United States that the white population is suf- ficiently numerous to afford peaceably disposed emi- grants every protection against the Indians and the millions of Mexicans ; and lastly, the greatest object of all is to deter the Mexicans, by swelling the Texan might, from attempting to reconquer the country ; but the subjoined table will enable the reader to form an opinion on this subject.
The following is the Statistical Table of the Towns and Popu- lation of Texas, in 1839 and 1840.
Cities and Towns.
Resident Population.
Austin (Capital of Texas)
400
Anahuac
50
Bolivar
50
Brazoria
·
250
Columbia (East and West)
200
Goliad
·
250
Galveston (Island and City)
5,000
Gonzales
250
Houston .
2,073
Live Oak Point
20
Lynchburgh
20
Lamar
35
-
201
COUNTY TOWNS AND CITIES.
Liberty
.
· 20
Matagorda
. 600
Nacogdoches
750
Osceola
50
Richmond
80
San Antonio
2,000
San Augustin
1,000
San Patricio
200
Sabine
150
San Felipe
20
Victoria
600
Velasco
100
Washington
400
Washington, New
20
Total of the Residents in Towns . 16,588
Agricultural population, exclusive of Negroes 12,500
Permanent residents 29,088
Transient visitors, such as traders, land jobbers, and adventurers of every description going
backwards and forwards
25,000
Total
5-1,088*
.
There are a number of other towns in Texas, such as La Grange, Bastrop, Texana, &c., that consist of a solitary boarding house and one or two negro huts, while others, many of them county
* What a contrast this with the representations of "Le Cou - stitutionnel " of the 10th of March, the "Colonial Magazine" of January, Messrs. Lafitte & Co., and Mr. Kennedy ! The " Morning Post" alone comes near the mark. See " Morning Post" of February 15th. 1811.
205
THE WHITE POPULATION OF TEXAS.
towns and cities, have been laid out, but re- main uninhabited up to the present time; in fact, the facility with which the Anglo-Americans incor- porate cities and build towns, is well known, and is no where more remarkable than in Texas, where nothing more is required of a man, woman, or child, than to possess a piece of land, and with a few pegs to sectionize a portion of it, and then tack " ville" or " burgh" to the end of their name, and the city, town, or hamlet is complete, and forthwith placed on the list of flourishing and populous localities .*
'The white population of Texas are called " 'Texans," a new born-race, hatched in the United States, and recently enrolled in the list of civilized nations. Having thus far merely described their political history, I shall proceed to bring forward their manners, habits, and customs, which have been industriously misrepresented to the English people. The Texans are generally styled the first offsprings of America, and the grand-children of England. As such they become interesting objects of inquiry, in which it is painful to note the singular deformities of their rapid degeneration, whether measured by the modern standard of civilization or morality. To bring a people just merging from a miserable oblivion, the life of the western wilderness, at once up to this standard, may be deemed unfair by an impartial reader; yet when a nation professes to
" Thus is explained the list given by Mr. Kennedy, nearly as long as the post-towns of England and Wales!
206
THE WHITE POPULATION OF TEXAS.
be civilized, and when English writers of great literary pretensions proclaim them to be so, we are naturally led, in a moral point of view, to sup- pose that the great mass of the people of which she is composed, have abandoned or subdued the natural vices of the human heart, and that the first object of their life is the suppression of vice, and the promotion of virtue. The first by en- couraging industry, particularly in the domestic arts, as the first step towards social refinement, and the latter by promoting moral education, backed by moral precept ; and in a political point of view, we at least look for civil and religious toleration- nay, liberty, as the substratum of their present and future political existence as an independent nation.
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