The history of the republic of Texas

Front matter

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Ic&i.l

tcetr:

Preface

In the month of November, 1839, being in delicate health, and led away by the exaggerated accounts then, as well as now, promulgated respecting Texas and the Texans, I embarked for that land of pro¬ mise, and arrived on the 30th of January, 1840. I remained there until the end of July, having spent much of my time in visiting different parts of the country, exploring its soil, and studying the character of its government and inhabitants, as well as in examining the condition of the aboriginal tribes, and of the negroes held in bondage by the North- American Settlers. During part of the time I was Editor of the Richmond Telescope , and on the 7th of April I became a member of the Texan bar. Besides these opportunities of personal ob¬ servation, I collected what information I could gather from public men and official records, taking notes of the whole at the time and on the spot.

The present work is founded on these notes, after a careful comparison with the previously pub¬ lished works of others, upon the same topics, from some of which, and from public papers, I have ex¬ tracted freely wherever I found matter confirming a 2

IV

PREFACE.

my own observations, and illustrating my subject. I have not written it from any promise to write a book made over a champagne supper, while my brain was reeling under the pleasing draught, and my heart softened by the cajoleries of young Texan lawyers ; nor to favour any project or party, either in Texas or this country. My object is to present to the pub¬ lic an unvarnished account of what Texas and the Texans really are ; of the true origin and history of their rebellion against Mexico, their lawful sove¬ reign ; of their inhuman treatment of the Negro and Indian races; of their aggressive policy sys¬ tematically pursued towards Mexico; to warn the British government against the ratification of a treaty with a people whose existence as an inde¬ pendent nation is owing, first, to their own base treason, and secondly, to a political juggle of Andrew Jackson, the late President of the United States ; and to prevent more of my own country¬ men from sharing in the ruin and wretchedness of too many others who have already emigrated to Texas, and at this moment are either pining there, in want and sickness, or have begged their way out of it, to New Orleans, and other parts of the United States.

It is much to be regretted that a work intended to answer these ends has not fallen into abler hands. I am quite aware that both in the arrangement and in its style the reader will find much whereon to exercise his generous indulgence ; and I despair

PREFACE.

not of obtaining it, when I state that, during the progress of the work in the press, a distressing ill¬ ness in my family, and other pressing incidents, distracted my attention from watching over and correcting the proofs with that care which was re¬ quired. This is the only apology I can offer for the numerous errata embodying some important notes, which I have had to add in correction of the text.

I hope that Reviewers will attach the proper weight to these circumstances, and that they will not allow my faults, as a writer, to prejudice them against my facts respecting Texas and the Texans, upon which I take my stand against all opponents. Where I am at variance with Mr. Kennedy and other panegyrists of Texas, all I request is calm and dispassionate inquiry, and a little patience, till reports are received from those who have recently emigrated to that country under his encourage¬ ment, (I refer to that offered by his published work and letters,) and the operation of the Texan Land Association, of Exeter Street, Strand.

In the part of my work that professes to give the history of Mexico, I am less confident ; never having been in Mexico, and not knowing the language, I have therefore been without the same advantage of writing from personal observation and knowledge. But I flatter myself the English reader will find sufficient of that history to render intelligible that of Texas, and the Mexican will not look to my work for any thing beyond that. Writing as I do

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without either “ Texan temptations ” or Texan influences, I have studiously kept aloof from all that might be considered Mexican, lest I should unconsciously imbibe a spirit inconsistent with that of an impartial historian.

Those who believe what Mr. Kennedy and others of his category have written of Texas and the Texans, Mexico and the Mexicans, will of course doubt the impartiality to which I lay claim. But let them for one moment reflect upon the identity of causes, principles, and men, who robbed Mexico of Texas, and of those who wanted and still want to rob this country of the Canadas. There is not a public writer in England who does not fully understand and detest the character and designs of the Sympathizers of the north, and yet (if we are to attribute reviews to the editors of the papers where they have appeared, and not to other influences) there is scarcely one who does not pro¬ fess to believe Mr. Kennedy’s description of the modern Texan, who is neither more nor less than a Sympathizer of the south, who has succeeded in his object. Why should the same man be an execrable villain on the frontier of Canada, and a worthy Texan on the borders of Mexico ? and why should the same deeds which are decried and punished in the north, not be equally so in the south ? Crimes do not change their nature, nor the rights of nations vary, with a mere difference of latitude ; the Mexicans, exposed to similar out-

PREFACE.

Vll rages with ourselves, have had and have the same right to resist them, and while we reject the doc¬ trines and sympathies of Mr. Wm. Lyon Macken¬ zie, as treasonable and destructive to ourselves, in common justice w'e must equally repudiate the doctrines and sympathies of Mr. William Kennedy, as promoting treason and sedition against the Mexicans.

1 hold that the justice of this parallel is undeni¬ able, and assuming that it is so, I beg the attention of the reader to the following graphic portrait of the Sympathizer of the north, taken from the Ca¬ nadian British American and West Indian Maga¬ zine, for February, 1839, said to have been edited by a gentleman of talent, at present connected with the Morning Herald: —

AMERICAN “ SYMPATHY.”

“ American sympathy is clearly all on one side, and the va¬ rious phases under which it may be found openly displayed or covertly lurking — the Protean shapes it assumes — can neither blind to its cool and callous atrocity, or disguise its cant and hypocrisy in whatever way it may appeal to the sense. The brigands, who, with their title deeds duly enrolled and signed by Mackenzie for lots of fair Canadian land, cross the border, fire the dwelling, and deliberately consummate midnight assassina¬ tion upon unsuspecting, unpreprared, and helpless men, women, and children— these are ‘ Sympathizers.’ If the murderous gang ultimately beaten off by a brave and loyal population, succeed in escaping by a disgraceful flight, they are welcomed back by their countrymen with ‘ sympathy,’ not for the innocent victims they had so ruthlessly slaughtered in Canada, but for the booty

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viii

not gained, though expected, and the larger share of it laid out by the whole skin sympathizing contrivers of the foray at home for themselves. If the bandits are captured, brought to trial and sentenced to the gallows, as outcasts, such from the laws of God and man deserve to be, American ‘ sympathy ’ then shrouds it¬ self in a world of wordy philanthropy. The charities of kind and of nature are appealed to on their behalf, as if the condemned savages could claim aught of kindred with humanity beyond the outward form. To propitiate a mercy which would often be worse than suicidal in the gallant people outraged and rob the hangman of his due, never more worthily exacted, the banded pirates are held up as folks poor and honest, or as blubbering boys escaped from the maternal apron strings, who have been ‘deluded,’ unwarily ‘seduced,’ or even ‘ compelled ’ by threats to join the vagrant crew with which they were associated in their nefarious schemes of bloodshed and rapine — as if the conscious vagabonds knew not the difference between a rifle and a reaping hook, and could not decipher the contract sealed and signed in their own handwriting for the purchase of Canadian freeholds, at the foul price of innocent unoffending Canadian blood! ”

I leave the reader of the following pages to point out where I have painted the Texans, alias Sympa¬ thizers of the South, in colours blacker than the above. Such, and such only, were the men who, from New Orleans, invaded Texas in 1836 ! such are the men who, at this moment, hostilize the whole line of the Rio Bravo del Norte ! such are the men who form the Texan nation ! from whose vicinity, according to Mr. Kennedy, Mexico is to derive so much benefit, and with whom Lord Palmerston allowed himself to be hurried into a treaty !

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IX

The only thing that can be urged in his Lord¬ ship’s defence is, that in this case he only did what the United States, France, Holland, and Belgium had done before him. But Scripture tells us, “ we ought not to follow a multitude to do evil “ we ought to do unto others as we would that they should do to us all which maxims his Lordship, in this case, violated, affording an example which other nations may follow to the prejudice of this great colonial empire, and exposing to imminent hazard the important interests of his countrymen throughout Mexico.

The reader may think the imputation I have cast upon the government of the United States, in having recognized Texas, through a political juggle, as undeserved. Such, however, is not the case. It is a fact in history, well authenticated by other evidence besides that of Mr. Kennedy, (see p. 280, vol. ii.,) that President Jackson recognized Texas merely to give her a semblance of right to dispose of herself, voting her aggregation to the United States. While only recognized as an integral part of Mexico, the cabinet of Washington could not in decency admit into the Union those who were not their own masters. But with states as well as individuals, honesty is the best policy. The crafty Americans perpetrated the disgraceful deed, but they were overreached by the equally cunning, and still more unprincipled Texans, who, under a promise of annexation, had induced President

PREFACE.

Jackson to violate the territory of Mexico through the army of General Gaines, and threaten Mexico with war unless she almost instantly paid an in¬ demnity for fourteen specific, and sundry indefinite claims of American citizens, trumped up for the occasion, from the remote date of 1817! All this was done after the battle of San Jacinto , to deter General Bravo, who had concentrated a Mexican army at San Luis Potosi, from invading Texas, and retrieving the disastrous surprise of General Santa Anna. The manoeuvre succeeded. The dis¬ putes with France which soon followed rendered it impossible for Mexico, for a time, to spare troops for the reconquest of Texas, and the wily Texans were no sooner relieved from their apprehensions of a fresh visit from the Mexicans, and fortified by the acknowledgment of their independence by the United States, than by a vote of their own con¬ gress, they withdrew their petition for admission into the American Union.

It was to this most disgraceful ‘political juggle of General Jackson, that Texas owes its admission amongst independent nations. France followed the example of the United States, to indulge a vin¬ dictive feeling against Mexico. Holland and Bel¬ gium thought they could do no wrong in doing as the United States and France had done before them ; and at last Lord Palmerston followed in the same path, to the manifest prejudice of every Bri¬ tish interest, and the sanction of a principle tend-

PREFACE.

XI ing to the destruction of our friend and ally, Mexico, and to endanger the peace of our own colonies when foreigners choose to interfere with them.

By an official despatch of General Santa Anna, of the 10th of February, 1836, addressed to the secretary of war and marine, it appears that after suppressing the insurrection in Texas, his intention was to have given to all slaves, and men of colour, the benefit of the Mexican laws, which secured their freedom ; to have established throughout Texas military colonies like those of Russia, in Siberia, or England in India; commuted the salaries and pensions of civil and military employes into grants of land for two-thirds of the amount due to each, and one-third in cash to enable him to cultivate the land, and to have opened offices for the sale of the remainder to English, German, French, Spanish, and other emigrants, (not being Anglo-Americans ,) so as to cement the credit and prosperity of the nation, and discharge its debts.

That the rule of the Mexican government was not incompatible with the prosperity of the country is abundantly proved by the statistics of Texas, published in Mexico, by General Don Juan N. de Almonte, in 1835. From the great progress made by the colonists previous to that date, we may rea¬ sonably infer that had General Santa Anna succeeded in establishing the system above explained, the in¬ habitants of Texas would have been more numer-

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ous, more happy, more wealthy, more moral, and less burdened with debt, or stained with the crime of Negro slavery and Indian massacre than they are at this moment. And how infinitely greater would have been the advantages to Mexico and to England ! The former would not have had to de¬ plore the loss of Yucatan, and the disorganization of her frontier, with the ruinous expense of keep¬ ing up a large army ; while British goods would have been consumed to a greater extent, and been better paid for throughout the republic ; the divi¬ dends would have been remitted on the English debt, and of this a great part could have been wholly cancelled by the lands in Texas, pledged by Mexico to the bondholders. Lastly, Mexico would have weighed in the scale as a counterpoise to the United States, in the full integrity of her strength, in place of being placed at her mercy, as the policy of Lord Palmerston has placed her.

Let me, however, be just to Mr. Kennedy : his work is obviously got up with great care ; in point of composition and language, it is one of consider¬ able merit ; but the historian should be more care¬ ful of his facts than of his language ; these are to be collected by careful observation, and not im¬ bibed while sipping champagne and inhaling the crafty inspiration of astute young Yankee lawyers congregated in Texas, first, to seize the country ; secondly, to turn its resources to their own profit ; and thirdly, to justify the act. How far these re-

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X1U marks may apply to Mr. Kennedy’s two well puffed up volumes and Mr. Ikin’s poetical recommendation thereof, those emigrants will best judge who may allow themselves and families to be transported to any point within the limits and rule of Texas.

If they find themselves there denuded of their means, ruined in health, and subjected to the hor¬ rors of Indian and Mexican warfare, they will de¬ rive little consolation from a re-perusal of the fine words, alluring phrases, and tempting promises, to which they surrendered their judgment and their cash ; nor from a reference to my pages, where I have endeavoured to warn them against the snares laid for them. If they accept lands within the yel¬ low line in my map, marking the territory abso¬ lutely in the possession of the Texans, they will subject themselves to all the diseases incident to the climate — to the civil disorders of the worst governed country in all America — to their share of taxes and imposts, to pay the charges of an admi¬ nistration expensive in its composition, and bur¬ dened with debt already out of all proportion to the population — to the requisitions of military service against the Mexicans and the Indians — to the frauds of publicans, pedlars, gamblers, land-jobbers, taxgatherers, lawyers, excisemen, and other sinners — to the degradation of being called “ White Niggers,” if they work, and the penalty of starvation if they work not, and to the enormous charges of the Texan doctors (for which see Mr. Kennedy’s book) if they

XIV

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fall sick : and if they go beyond that line, they get to a more healthy country, it is true, but with the exception of less disease, they expose themselves to all the above evils and hardships, with this addi¬ tion, that they are at the mercy of Indian tribes, all preferring Mexican to Texan rule, and by the atro¬ cities of the Texans, excited to a degree of mad revenge against all who acknowledge their govern¬ ment.

To all this I may add, that Mexico, under the strong government expected to result from recent changes, may again invade Texas with an army not to be resisted, cancelling all grants of land made by the usurping government — declaring free, and calling to arms, the whole slaves in Texas (amount¬ ing nearly to 12,000), and parcelling out the lands afresh to these liberated Negroes, to the various Indian tribes — to the Mexican soldiers — to the British bondholders, and recolonizing the whole territory upon some such plan as that intended by General Santa Anna.

Were such a change to take place, (and if the Mexicans unite heart and hand there is nothing to prevent it,) what would be the value of lands bought and paid for in Texas, and held by no other tenure than that of any Texan land company ? The Mexi¬ can government, with that scrupulous regard to the rights of foreigners which has ever characterized its public acts, even amidst the horrors of civil war, would doubtless respect the possessions of all colonists

PREFACE.

XV not implicated in rebellion, holding their lands by right of grant, emanating from themselves, or Mexi¬ can authorities ; but settlers now going out must necessarily be dispossessed,according to public notice already given by the Mexican government. With the exception of the evil which would certainly result to this unfortunate class, the change contemplated ought to be hailed with joy by every British subject — the British creditors of Mexico would be restored to their territorial rights — the British merchant would find a country cleared of cheats, rogues, and vaga¬ bonds, (the Mexican laws require certificates of good moral character from emigrants,) and well supplied with a metallic currency — the British phi¬ lanthropist would see slavery abolished in Texas, and the remnants of ancient nations of red men preserved from extinction, under the joint protection of Mexico and Great Britain — the British emigrant would, in time, find a country well supplied with native la¬ bourers, and obtain lands for a mere nominal price, under a title of indisputable validity, and the British government in Mexico would find a faithful and willing ally, in the event of war with the United States, able and ready to cross the Sabine with a force of 50,000 coloured men, to declare that slavery has ceased to exist in the states of the south, and to march an auxiliary force from California to repel any encroachment that might be attempted upon our territories on the north-west coast.

The reader may ask. Is Mexico able to do all

XVI

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this ? I unhesitatingly answer, Yes. All she would require would be a subsidy, as we used to grant to other nations in the war with Napoleon. To those who doubt my authority upon this head, I recom¬ mend a careful perusal of the ever-memorable speech in the congress of the United States, made by the Venerable John Quincy Adams, on the 25th of May, 1836. On the subject of war with Mexico, then threatened, to favour the rebellious Texans, he emphatically remarked — “Your war, gentlemen, must be a war of castes — the Anglo-Texan-American fighting against the Morisco-Hispano-Mexican- American — a war between the northern and south¬ ern halves of North America, from Pasmaquoddy to Panama. Are you prepared for this war ?

“ I ask you, what will your cause be in such a wrar — aggression, conquest, and the re-establishment of slavery where it was before abolished ? In this war, the flags of liberty will be those of Mexico, and ours, I blush to say so, the flags of slavery !”

The orator went on to show, that in spite of the affair of San Jacinto, which was a mere surprise, Mexico had a larger number of veteran troops, and was better prepared for war than the United States, so that, if she should throw herself upon the south¬ ern states in chase of the rebels of Texas, she might pursue them to the very heart of the Union, placing the government in a position, the difficulty of which they might estimate from that they had expe¬ rienced with only some five or six hundred Seminole

PREFACE.

XVU

Indians in Florida. He very clearly proved that a Mexican war would be a negro and Indian war, and that most likely they would find Great Britain take up the cause of Mexico, which would be that of justice and of freedom.

The invasion of the United States by Mexico, by every law of nations would have been fully justi¬ fied by the example of General Jackson in Florida, the then recent invasion of Mexican territory by the United States’ army under General Gaines, and the open recruiting in New Orleans and the south¬ ern states of soldiers to fight in Texas, and to be paid by large slices of that Mexican territory. It is a feature distinctive of the diplomacy of the United States to understand the laws of nations in one sense as they affect themselves, and in quite a different as they affect their neighbours. Hence arose the loud outcry respecting the outrage to their territory in the affair of the Caroline, though nothing compared to that committed by themselves upon the sovereignty of Spain in Florida, and of Mexico in Texas ; and hence will arise the necessity of the nations of the world putting down the North- American republic entirely, unless they consent to be guided by the same rules which they apply to others, and to exercise that repressive authority over their frontier population that will permit their neighbours to live in peace and safety.

I would recommend my Lord Palmerston to read an exceedingly well-written and able pamphlet by b

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the Mexican general, Don Jose Maria Tornel, for¬ merly secretary-of-war, entitled Texas, and the United States of America in their relations with the Mexican republic, as showing the perfidious policy, and worse than Punic faith of the United States to Mexico, and the true origin of the base and ungrate¬ ful rebellion of the Texans. No one who will read that pamphlet, and carefully consider its contents with relation to the facts stated, will fail to deplore the recognition of Texas as a great calamity — to consider the conduct of General Jackson, and his administration in that affair, as a blot in the history of the United States, and to concur with Senor Tornel, who condenses his opinion of the political creed of the North- American republic in these em¬ phatic words, “ their desire is their right, and their own convenience is their justice." If this hold true of the North Americans, which I believe it does, it holds doubly true of those citizens of the United States who have usurped Texas, and there assumed to themselves a local habitation and a name, at the expense of the owners of the soil, and of the British creditors of Mexico, and to the scandal of all the good and just amongst mankind.

Under these feelings, sincerely and disinterestedly entertained, I addressed to the Right Honourable the Earl of Aberdeen the letter which will be found at the end of the Appendix.

N. D. Maillard.

December 4, 1841.

Contents

Preface .

The Natchez ....

The original inhabitants of Texas

Appendix

Treaty between Texas and France . 493 — 499

Letter to Viscount Palmerston . 499 — 501

Declaration of American consul ...... 501, 502

Important event to English emigrants ..... 502

Table of Mexican and English measures .... 503

Letter to D. O’Connell, Esq. ...... 503 — 508

Laws of Texas and Mexico as regards slavery . . . 509

Letter to Lord Aberdeen ....... 511,512

ERRATA AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.

Page Line

3 10 the Indian nations of Buenos Ayres, Chile, and Guatemala are not mentioned.

4 1 1 for “ was” read “ were.”

13 16 for “ Gunaguato” read “ Guanaxuato,” both there and wherever else the word

occurs.

19 21 for “ outlaw” read “ outlaws.”

29 15 for “ General Austin” read “ Moses Austin.”

30 3 for “ at the head of” read “ in the name of.”

31 9 for “ Moses” read “ Stephen.”

31 19 for “ Apodoca” read “ Apodaca.”

33 2 for “ Iguala” read “ Acapulco.”

33 19 for “ securing” read “ secured.”

43 5 for “congress” read “junta.”

45 13 from the word “country,” the sentence to the end of the paragraph should

have been entirely omitted. It was inserted by a mistake.

49 21 for “ was taken from Santa Anna,” read “ was adopted in accordance with Santa

Anna’s views.”

50 II have subsequently been assured that the British ministers did not interfere

further than simply intimating, that if such disorders continued, they would retire altogether.

50 10 for “ Labato” read “Lobato."

50 23 for “ Guadulaxara” read “ Guadalaxara.”

50 24 and 30 for “ Paxaca” read “ Oaxaca.”

52 5 for “ Arroyo” read “ Arroyos.”

ERRATA AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.

Page Line

53 7 for “ seized” read “ viewed.”

55 2 and 5 for “ Escoceres” read “ Escoseses.”

57 3 for “ Barrahas” read “ Barradas.”

57 10 The 1000 men are what Santa Anna brought with him from Vera Cruz, but

he was joined in the state of Tamaulipas by large reinforcements.

57 20 I find that Guerrero was only chargeable with the abuse of the dictatorial powers conferred on him by the congress.

62 5 “ Carbajal” should he “ Carabajal.”

62 26 for “ confusion” read “ revolution.”

66 23 for “ petitions ” read “ petition.”

93 5 for “ Captain Fannin” read “ Colonel Fannin.”

93 20 for “ San Patrico ” read “ San Patricio.”

1 08 28 for “ Muriano” read “ Mariano.”

108 33 for “ Satillo” read “ Saltillo.”

114 19 I mean that the treaty terminated the war of independence as the Texans will

have it, but it can only be so understood for that campaign. The account of the disorders in Urrea’s retreat may be exaggerated. I had it from a Texan officer.

1 33 3 for “ chosen” read “ have chosen.”

145 17 for “ on the receipt of’ read “ sending off.” At this part, before speaking of

the landing at Vera Cruz, I ought to have mentioned the capture of the fort of San Juan de Ullua, between which events a considerable period elapsed.

148 4 for “ army were” read “ army who were.”

1 50 23 for “ found” read “ it was found.”

158 14 The ^10, 000, 000 is, in round numbers, the whole amount of the debt of

Mexico to English subjects, in security for which Mexico mortgaged to them 125 millions of acres to he selected in Texas, Chihuahua, New Mexico, So¬ nora and California, at their own option.

„ 16 The date of the decree being 12th April, 1837, it was one month after the

acknowledgment by the United States, which took place on the 3rd of March preceding : but I apprehend Mexico had then, and has now, a perfect right to dispose of Texas as she pleases, according to her force aud power so to do.

„ 26 By saying that Mexico has no power to recognize the independence of Texas, I

do not mean to deny her right of perfect sovereignty, hut simply that the basis of the constitution appears to militate against such a dismemberment, and, much to her honour, Mexico has already protested her inability to recognize Texas to the prejudice of the territorial rights there of British subjects, founded on the sanctity of her own decrees.

163 5 for “ Jose Justa” read “ Jose Justo.”

186 25 for “ Matagorder” read “ Matagorda.”

194 7 In speaking of a fiscal revolution in Mexico, I allude to the absurd notion of

Mr. Kennedy to upset the fiscal regulations both of Mexico and the United States, by the introduction, across both frontiers, of British goods introduced into Texas duty free.

196 17 for “ Tamaulipus” read “ Tamaulipas.”

204 The population of Texas, including transient visitors, is given, in round num¬ bers, as 54,088, on a fair estimate from the best data I could collect on the spot, in the absence of any regular census of the whole country.