Vol. VIII. JANUARY, 1905. No. 3.
The publication committee and the editors disclaim responsibility for views expressed by contributors to The Quarterly.
Before the late years of the seventeenth century, what we now know as Texas was still unoccupied by Europeans, and, in fact, had not even a name of its own on the map. Its coast had been explored, notably by Pineda in his voyage of 1519; its interior had been traversed by Cabeza de Vaca in his famous wanderings of 1528-1536; it had been entered, perhaps, by the survivors of De Soto's expedition and by Coronado; it had been included in Garay's short-lived province of Amichel; 1 and it had been sometimes considered a part of Florida. 2 All that had been achieved, however, was a strengthening of Spain's claim to this part of the Gulf coast.
The story of the French encroachment which aroused Spain to the need of occupying these long neglected regions is too well known to require more than a passing mention. After gaining control of the St. Lawrence and the Lake region, the French had pushed into the Mississippi valley. In 1685, La Salle led a colony which was to be planted at the mouth of the river, and thus to begin the occupation of the newly-claimed Louisiana. He missed his destination, and landed on what is now Matagorda bay, on the Texas coast. The settlement was a failure, and nearly all who were connected with it lost their lives by disease or by violence.
When the news of this attempt to settle on Spanish territory reached Mexico, the viceroy promptly reported to the government at Madrid, and made several efforts to find the French settlement. 3 As all these early attempts failed to bring any information regarding the reported encroachment, the matter was dropped until 1689, when the finding of an old Frenchman, a member of La Salle's party, among the Indians near Coahuila, 4 led to an expedition under Alonso de León; this expedition actually found the remains of the French fort. The result was the first occupation of Texas by the Spaniards in 1690 5 through another expedition, also under the command of De León.
The itinerary of De León given below is a translation of the second document in the Memorias de Nueva España. It is the diary of the expedition of 1689, written by some one who took part in it, probably by De León himself.
6 This is the only contemporary
account I have had access to, except the Letter of Manzanet.
7 There is, however, a letter, which Bancroft ascribes to León, cited by Bancroft and by Parkman;
8 and there are still other documents in the Archivo General de Indias. So far as I know, no copies of the latter have yet been made for American libraries. The map
9 of which a facsimile is here given, showing the route taken by the Spaniards in the expedition, is found in connection with some of these Sevilla manuscripts. It is presumably the work of Don Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora,
10 as it bears
his signature. It is quite inaccurate in its representation of the rivers and of the coast, as is to be expected in a sketch-map of this sort and of this period, yet it is of considerable value for the light which it throws upon the narrative in the Itinerary. The lower courses of the rivers, in particular, are mostly pure guesswork; the coast may have been modeled on earlier maps. The route, which is marked on the tracing in red ink, is for the most part in agreement with that described in the Itinerary, yet it presents enough discrepancies to suggest other sources of information. It is hard to tell whence the additional information could have come,— certainly not from the Letter,
11 because this does not go sufficiently into detail. The names as given on the Map, however, agree substantially with those given by the Itinerary.
The aim in translation has been to give the exact meaning of the Spanish in clear, readable English, without regard to literalness of rendition. With this end in view, changes have been made in the word and sentence order, whenever it seemed necessary; no liberties, however, have been taken with the paragraphing. When the translation seems doubtful or unusual, the Spanish is printed in italics within parentheses; the translator's additions and explanations inserted in the body of the translation are bracketed. The punctuation and capitalization of the text have not been strictly followed; proper names, however, are retained as in the Spanish.
March.
Date. Leg. 14
Wednesday, March 23, 15 it was arranged that the detachment of soldiers and camp-followers (el Rl. de la Gente y Soldados 16) who were in Coahuila 17 should set out. Accordingly, they marched one league down the river. 18 1.
24.Thursday, the 24th, the whole body (el general) set out. The detachment, being ordered to go down the river, [crossed over and] 19 travelled down the other bank to its junction with the Nadadores. They travelled that day seven leagues toward the north. 20 All this country is uninhabitable. 7.
25.Friday, the 25th, we travelled down the Rio de Nadadores, along the south bank, between two ridges which they call Baluartes. On the bank of the river we passed a cottonwood tree, the only one within a great distance. We travelled that day seven leagues, keeping the same northeast course. 21 All the country is level and affords good pasturage. 7.
26.Saturday, the 26th, we travelled down the river 22 as on the day before, to its junction with the Sabinas. We travelled east, halting a league from the junction. The country is level and affords good pasturage.
27th.Sunday, the 27th, we went down the river Sabinas and crossed it toward the north. 23 Passing along the bank we sighted the soldiers who were coming from the Nuevo Reyno de Leon to join us here according to agreement. 24 As we came together a salute was fired on each side. After we had travelled three leagues to the east, a general review and individual count was made of all the soldiers, drivers, and other servants, and of the baggage as well. 3.
28.Monday, the 28th, we travelled to the northeast, a distance of six leagues. After crossing some unwatered plains, we halted at a pool of rain-water. 6.
29.Tuesday, the 29th, we set out toward the northeast. 25 Before daybreak the French prisoner 26 sent out one of the Indians whom we were bringing because of their loyalty, to tell the Indians, his acquaintances, that we were going through their village. As a result, more than seventy Indians, some armed, others unarmed, came out to meet us a league before we arrived at the village, and accompanied us thither. They had a hut ready, covered with buffalo hides; there thev put the Frenchman, toward whom they made many demonstrations of affection. In front of the hut was driven a stake, four varas high, on which were fastened sixteen heads of Indians, their enemies, whom they had killed. They were five nations joined together, (according to the account the Frenchman gave), entitled Hapes, Jumenes, Xiabu,, Mescale, and another. 27 We counted eighty five huts. We distributed among them some cotton garments, blankets, beads, rosaries, knives, and arms, with which they were very much pleased. Five cattle were killed for them, too, so that all persons of all ages might eat. There were four hundred and ninety of them. We crossed a creek about the time of evening prayer. 28 4.
31.Thursday, the 31st, it was necessary to halt at this point, because of the suffering of the horses occasioned by lack of water.
April.
1.Friday, April 1st, we travelled down the river 29 five leagues, traversing some low hills. There was no lack of water-holes along the way (en este distancia). The route during the most of these five leagues was toward the north. We halted on this south bank in front of the ford. The river 30 was forded, and found easy to cross the next day. Now we had with us a faithful Indian guide, 31 who assured us that he knew the country, and that he would bring us where there were some men like ourselves, in a settlement of six or seven houses; that they had wives and children, and that they were about six days' journey distant from the said 32 Rio Bravo. This Indian can not speak Castilian, (es bosal) but we got some light on what he was saying through another Indian who acted as interpreter, albeit a poor one. 5.
2.Saturday, the 2nd, we crossed the river 33 and went about one league north, to avoid some ravines and low hills. Afterward we went mostly northeast, until we reached some pools, five leagues away. We named these El paraje de los Cuervos, because more than three thousand crows appeared at nightfall. The way was level and untimbered. 5.
3.Palm Sunday, the 3rd, we marched northeast three leagues through level country, and afterward two more through several thickets of mesquite (despues huvo otras dos de algunos Montecillos de mesquites). We crossed some little dry creeks; and then we came upon one that had water in it, on the bank of which we halted. Altogether we travelled that day five long leagues. 34 We named this creek the Arroyo de Ramos, 35 because we found it on Palm Sunday. There we observed the altitude of the sun with an astrolabe, though a defective one, and found our latitude to be 26° 31’. 36 I must call attention to the fact that the tables on which this observation was based were made before the so-called Gregorian correction. This correction was made in the year 1582, in which the equinox was on the tenth of March. Following the Ephemerides of the Roman Andrea Argoli, which places the equinox this year [1582] on the 20th of March, we found by these tables that today, April 3, corresponds to the 24th of March of this year [1689], which is the first since the bissextile. These tables, the author says, he took from the Arte de Navegar, by the Maestro Medina. It has been necessary to state these facts in explanation, in case it should appear that a mistake has been made because of our lack of modern tables. 5.
4.Holy Monday, the 4th, we marched northeast the most of the day, east-by-north 37 occasionally (algunos ratos), a distance of 8 leagues. At first the land was level, then there was a little mesquite thicket; and after that we got into a larger one, three leagues long. We came upon a river, which, as we could see, even though it contained little water at the time, overflows its banks in time of rain more than half a league from the main channel. We called it the Rio de las Nueces, 38 because there were many pecan trees (nogales) 39 [on its banks]. It is somewhat rocky, and all its rocks are flint (de fuego) and very fine. 8.
5.Holy Tuesday, the 5th, we crossed the river. We had to go half a league down its bank, and then we went through a glade. Then came (se ofrecio) a very dense thicket. We had to cut a passage into it for almost a league with our cutlasses and axes, because of the numerous prickly pears and mesquite which blocked up the way. Afterward we got into a mesquite thicket in which at intervals we had to make a clearing. We travelled about seven leagues. We came upon a river to which we gave the name Rio Sarco, 40 because its water was blue. We went, I repeat, (como digo), seven leagues, with many turns. 41 7.
6.Holy Wednesday, the 6th, we travelled about three leagues to the northeast, and two to the east. The country we passed through was level, with fine pasturage, with very pleasant glades, and, occasionally, little motts of oak. We came to a river, which we named Rio Hondo. Apropos of this river, its descent on each side is about forty feet; 42 near it, on both banks, are some insignificant hills, some of them timbered. The water was plentiful, so that the horses were easily supplied (con facilidad bebio). As we went down toward the river we found some large white rocks, on some of which we saw some crosses cut, and other figures artificially made with great skill, apparently a long time before. 5.
7.Holy Thursday, the 7th, we went more than four leagues down the river without crossing it, sometimes east, sometimes southeast; 43 we halted on the hither bank. The country is of the same sort here as at the last stopping-place; level, for the most part, though there is a little mesquite timber. Ever since the thirtieth of last month, when we passed the village of the Five Nations; 44 we have found along the line of march traces of Indians, made some time ago; but not a single Indian has appeared.
8.Holy Friday, the 8th, we crossed from the other bank of the Rio Hondo, 45 and travelled east-northeast, the most of the day near the river. We came upon two ravines (cañadas) near together. Here, it appears, the river rises in time of flood as much as six feet. After the ravines comes a little creek in a thicket. Here it was necessary to change our course for a while, to let the loaded mules cross, which they did with difficulty, some bogging up. After crossing this creek, we came to some very level land, and then to a large mesquite thicket. In the midst of the thicket were some pools of water, where we halted. We travelled that day eight long leagues, to the east, as has already been said. 8.
9.Holy Saturday, the 9th, we set out to the north, but on account of some thickets that were in the way, it was necessary to make some turns, sometimes north-by-east, sometimes north-north-east (4ta al Leste.) 46 We traveled that day five leagues. The land was very good. We crossed a dry creek that day, but a league farther on we found one with good water, with abundant pasturage and many oak-trees near by. We named this creek Arroyo del Vino, 47 because we opened a cask that day and divided its contents among the men. Under the trees we found wellgrown nuts, as large as those of Spain, but very hard to open. We saw many wild grape-vines, whose fruit, as we were told by the Indians we had brought with us, is in its season very pleasantly flavored. Our horses stampeded at this camp about nine o'clock at night, and they could not be stopped, though fifteen soldiers were on guard. According to the count made the following day, one hundred and two got away. 5.
10.Easter Sunday, the 10th, soldiers set out in different directions to look for the horses, which they found at various points. This search detained them till evening prayer, therefore the camp was not moved that day. We made a reckoning of our latitude, which we found to be 27° 55’. 48
11.Monday after Easter, the 11th, we set out to the east. We crossed two creeks of good water, and immediately after came to a great wood of pecan and oak-trees, more than five leagues in extent, all fertile and pleasant land. After having to travel twelve leagues to get water, we came that day upon a river, which was very large, though it had not much water [at the time], and which had a good ford. We named it the Rio de Medina. The descent to it is about fifty or sixty feet (Tiene la bajada de nueve á dies estados). All the rest of the way there were oaks and pecans. The course that day was east half the way, and northeast half the way. 12.
12.Tuesday after Easter, the 12th, we crossed the river, and found the ford very easy (acomodado). We travelled five leagues to the east, over some low hills, without any timber; we crossed some ravines of red and yellow earth; we entered a mesquite thicket, and found water in a creek. The creek was dry where we first struck it (en los principios), and we were somewhat discomfited because we thought our guide had mistaken the direction; about a league farther, however, there was a very good stream. We named this creek the Arroyo del Leon, 49 because we found a dead lion near by, very much mutilated (disforme). The country was level, and furnished good pasturage. 5.
13.Wednesday, the 13th, we advanced to the east, sometimes east-northeast 50 six leagues. About half a league from the camp we passed by the point of a little hill on which ends a clump of oaks, and which we left on the right hand. Among them were small piles of stones placed by hand (piedras puestas á manos). 51 We followed some low hills; there were about two leagues of oak timber which had to be partly cleared away; but after this all the county was level till we reached a little creek. 6.
14.14. Thursday, the 14th, we moved forward, east-northeast, in search of a great river which the guide told us we should find and which we reached at two in the afternoon. We travelled six leagues, the first three over some hills, and the rest of the way (despues) over some hills that were timbered, and marked with ravines. It was necessary in some places to clear away the timber so as to pass through. The country was the most pleasant that we had traversed; the river is not very full (caudoloso) and has a good ford; its banks are covered with timber. Six buffaloes—the first we had seen for a hundred leagues—were killed along the way. We gave this river the name of Our Lady of Guadalupe, 52 whom we had brought from Coahuila as our as our protectress, and whom we had painted on our royal standard. 53 6.
15.Friday, the 15th, the day dawned very rainy. None the less, however, our whole party set out (salimos con el real) toward the ford of the river, which was about a league away. We crossed the river, but as the water prevented our forward movement, we halted on a little creek. We travelled that day not more than two leagues. 54 As the guide said that we were near the settlement, a council of war was held, at which it was decided that the next day a reconnaissance should be made with sixty soldiers, while the camp should stay in another place at some distance away, with a sufficient guard. 55 2.
16.16. Saturday, the 16th, after a mass to our lady of Guadalupe had been chanted with all solemnity, the governor, in accordance with the decision of the day before, set out with the sixty soldiers, well equipped. The whole force (el real) set out at the same time. After travelling about three leagues 56 with the sixty men, the rear guard caught sight of an Indian in the timber. When he was taken to the governor and examined—through a poor interpreter—he declared that his ranchería was near by, and that four Frenchmen were there. 57 We quickened our pace, under the guidance of our Indian; after we had sent word to the main body to stay in the place whence they had sent the Indian. Before we came to the ranchería all the people left. We sighted them, however, as they were entering some motts; and after them came eight or ten dogs loaded with buffalo hides. We sent the same Indian who had guided us to call them; with the result that the most of them came. It was ascertained that the four Frenchmen were not there, but that they had gone on to the Tejas four days before. In this ranchería we found two Indians who told us that we should find them in a ranchería two days' journey further. 58 We gave (hicimos agasajo 59) these Indians some tobacco, knives, and other things, to get them to guide us, which they did. We turned and moved northward till sunset. Then we found in a thicket a village of more than two hundred and fifty persons, where we tried to find the Frenchmen, our French guide alweys serving as interpreter. They replied that the Frenchmen had gone to the Texas Indians four days before, and that the rest who had settled on the little sea (which is the bay), had all died at the hands of the coast Indians; that the Frenchmen had six houses; and that the event had occurred three moons 60 that is, three months, before; that previous to this there had been an epidemic of small-pox, of which the most had died. 61 The main body (el real) travelled east that day, and halted at the place appointed by the governor, who went eight leagues northward with the sixty men. 8.
17.Sunday, the 17th, after sleeping close by the Indian village, we again set out to the north. After travelling five leagues, we found some ranchos of Indians known to our French prisoner. We found out from them by minute inquiry the route of the four Frenchmen who were going to the Texas; we found out, moreover, that they had passed on horseback four days before. Here a consultation was held as to what decision should be reached, with the result that it was determined, as the main force was far away and the country unknown, to write a letter to the Frenchmen and send it to them by an Indian. Accordingly, the letter was written in French by the royal alférez 62 Francisco Martinez. Its contents, in substance, were as follows: that we had been informed of their escape when some Christians on the coast had been killed by the Indians of that vicinity; that they might come with us; that we would wait for them three or four days in the houses of the village from which they had set out. This letter was sealed by the governor and by our chaplain, Padre Fray Damian Manzanet, religious of our patron San Francisco. The letter added as a postscript some lines of Latin, in case any one of the four should be a religious, exhorting them to come. Putting in paper for a reply, we dispatched this letter by an Indian carrier who assured us that he would overtake them. About evening prayer an Indian came from the North to see the Frenchmen, of whom he must have had news. When we asked him through the Frenchman whether it was far from here to the Texas, he replied that it was not many days' journey and said that it had been three days since the four Frenchmen had gone on from his ranchería. 63
18.Monday, the 18th, 64 in view of the harm the camp might have suffered, even though we had left it well guarded, we set out in search of it. On the way thither the governor received a letter stating that the drove of horses had stampeded the night before, and that a hundred-odd had been lost; that some had been found, but thirty-six were still missing. 65 At this we quickened our pace to the camp. There we heard also that a soldier had been lost in the search for the horses. At this news sundry squadrons of soldiers were sent out in search of him, but he did not appear that day.
19.Thursday, the 19th, since neither the soldier nor the horses had appeared, two squadrons of soldiers set out in different directions to look for them; the governor went in person; but despite their diligent efforts the lost were not found. [The search-party], therefore, slept (se quedaron a dormir) in the open [that night], to continue the search. Indians from different rancherías came to the camp that day; we gave (agasajamos) them tobacco and other things, and charged them to scour the country in search of the soldier and the horses that were missing, promising them due return for the service.
20.Wednesday, the 20th, the party did not set out, because neither soldier nor horses had appeared. The efforts of the day before were repeated with new squadrons of soldiers. Just after they had left, the lost man came, guided by several Indians. He said that that night [after he had been lost] he had come to an Indian ranchería where he spent the night; that he had been undecided whether to stay there, because of his suspicion that they were going to kill him, but that he had been treated with great kindness. It was no little good fortune that he escaped from danger at the hands of so barbarous a race. 66 Though the astrolabe was broken, we righted it that day as best we could and made an observation of the sun, and found ourselves in latitude 28° 41’ north. 67
21.Thursday, the 21st, our party advanced (salimos con el real), sometimes east, sometimes east-by-north, 68 sometimes north-east-by-north. Our line of march lay through some wide plains which for long stretches were treeless. At the end of eight leagues we came to a creek of good water. Here the Indian guide told us that the settlement was on the bank of this creek and in its vicinity. 69 The land was all very pleasing; and we came across many buffalo.
22.22. Friday ,the 22nd, as we were near the settlement, our party set out (salimos con el real), though the day dawned rainy. Three leagues down the creek we found it. Having halted with the forces (con el real) about an arquebus-shot away, we went to see it, and found all the houses sacked, all the chests, bottle-cases (frasqueras), and all the rest of the settler's furniture broken; apparently more than two hundred books, torn apart, and with the rotten leaves scattered through the patios—all in French. We noted that the perpetrators (agresores) of this massacre had pulled everything [the colonists] had out of their chests, and divided the booty among themselves; and that what they had not cared for they had torn to pieces, making a frightful sack of all the French possessed (todo cuanto [los Franceses] tenian); for besides the evidence involved in our finding everything in this condition, further proof was found in the fact that in the rancherías through which we had passed before our arrival at the settlement, we had found in the possession of the Indians some French books in very good condition, with other articles of very little value. These books were recovered and their titles committed to memory. The Indians had done this damage not only to the furnishings, but also to the arms; for we found more than a hundred stocks (cavezas) of flintlock arquebuses, without locks or barrels. They must have carried these off, as was proved by an [arquebus] barrel found at some distance from the houses. We found three dead bodies scattered over the plain. One of these, from the dress that still clung to the bones, appeared to be that of a woman. We took the bodies up, chanted mass with the bodies present (con misa cantada de cuerpo presente), and buried them. We looked for the other dead bodies, but could not find them; whence we supposed that they had been thrown into the creek and had been eaten by alligators, of which there are many. 70 The principal house of this settlement is in the form of a fort, made of ship's timber, with a second story, also made of ship's timber, and with a slope to turn off water. Next to it, without any partition, is another apartment, not so strong, which must have served as a chapel where mass was said. The other five houses are of stakes, covered with mud inside and out; 71 their roofs are covered with buffalo-hides. All are quite useless for any defence. 72 In and about the fort and the houses (junto al fuerte y casas) were eight pieces of artillery, iron, of medium bore, —four or five-pounders,—and three very old swivels (pedreros) whose chambers were lacking. Some iron bars 73 were also found, and some ship's nails, estimated as altogether about five hundred-weight. 74 Some of the guns were scattered over the ground and some were on their broken carriages. There were some casks with their heads knocked in and their contents spilled out so that nothing was worth anything. Around the building was also some tackle, much the worse for wear. 75 The settlement was on a beautiful, level site, so as to be capable of defence in any event. On the frame of the principal door of the fort was inscribed the date of the settlement, which was 1684. 76 There are other details which are noted in the separate description of the post. The party travelled that day three leagues to the east. It appears, therefore, that the total distance from the Presidio of Coahuila to this settlement is one hundred and thirty-six leagues. 77
Discovery of Espíritu Santo Bay and its Harbor.
23. Saturday, the 23rd, we set out with thirty men to reconnoitre the bay to the south, trying to follow the creek below the settlement. We took the French prisoner for a guide, because he had told us he knew 78 the bay and had been all over it in a bark; in view of this assurance we let him guide us. He did not guide us (no lo hizo) down the creek, because he said it had no crossing. We went [instead] five leagues to the southwest; then, after going around the head waters of two creeks, we went three leagues farther, to the east, when we came upon (hasta dar con) the shore of the bay. Here we slept, as we arrived at twilight.
24. Sunday, very early in the morning, we set out along the shore of the bay, which at that season was at low water. There are many lagoons of salt water around it, whose marshes prevented us at some places from crossing on horseback. For long stretches, therefore, we went on foot, leading the horses. The arm of the sea which appeared to us the longest runs in toward the north, another smaller one to the south, and the other, the smallest, toward the settlement mentioned in this diary.
We went eight long leagues 79 along the shore, till it pleased God that we should discover the mouth, through which one enters the bay. This was probably about two leagues from the place we could reach on horseback. We were greatly rejoiced at this discovery; in token of which we fired a salute with our arquebuses. The Frenchman affirmed that this was the mouth and harbor, through which he had entered when he came into these parts with Monsieur Felipe So-and-So. The mouth of the harbor, so far as we could judge, is about two short leagues 80 across. There is a bar of low land across it which is closer to the mainland (mas arrimado a la costa) on the side toward Vera Cruz than toward Florida. 81 The Frenchman says that ships enter through the narrowest passage. On the south the river which we named Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe falls into the bay. We did not actually see its mouth, because it was impossible to reach that point; but we came to that conclusion because when we crossed it 82 we saw that it was near the bay, and also because the Frenchman made a statement to that effect. The arm of the sea which extends inland on the north of the bay is so wide that we could not see land on the other shore. On the shore of the bay, which we ran for about eight leagues, we saw a topmast (mastelero) of a large ship, another,—a small top-gallant mast,—a capstan, some barrel-staves, and other timbers, which must have belonged to some ship that was lost in the bay or along the coast whose harbor we had sighted. After seeing and exploring the mouth of the bay, we went back the same way we had come, and we camped for the night on the bank of a creek near a little mott. Here had been an Indian village, but it had been abandoned for some time. We found in the village book in the French language, a broken bottle-case, and other things, which gave us indications that the Indians of this village had taken part in the massacre of the French. In this creek, whose water was somewhat brackish, we found two canoes. 83
25. On the twenty-fifth of April we set out from there and went to the camp. There we found an answer to the letter that had been written to the Frenchmen who had gone to the Texas. The letter, read by the alférez, contained in substance that within two days they would come to where we were, for by this time they were tired of being among barbarians. There was only one signature—that of Juan Larchieverque of Bayonne. 84 It was written with red ochre. The distance traversed, in going to reconnoitre the bay and in returning, was fifty-two leagues. On that day, Monday, the 25th, the main camp remained stationary. 85
Discovery of the San Marcos River. 86
26. Tuesday, the 26th, it was decided that the main body should set out by the same route we had traversed, because the water of the creek is brackish, as has been stated, and the horses that drank it got sick. Accordingly, we moved three leagues up the creek, and halted in the same place where we had stopped in our advance; and then we went on with twenty men.
There was a very large river which the French prisoner said was toward the north and flowed into the bay. We found it at a distance of about three leagues, and followed its bank to where some lagoons form an impediment. It is a very large river; larger, it seemed to us, than the Rio Bravo; so large that a small vessel can navigate it. We determined to see its discharge into the bay, even though it should be a matter of difficulty. Finally we accomplished our purpose, looking from a little hill, which is about three quarters of a league distant from the mouth of the river. It appeared to us that it was about a league and a half (otro tanto) from the mouth of the San Marcos to the mouth of the creek on which the Frenchmen had lived, and the same distance from the mouth of the creek to the settlement. We travelled that day fifteen leagues. We took an observation on the shore of the creek, and found ourselves, allowing for mistakes on account of the defect in the astrolabe, in latitude 26° 3’ more or less. We named this river San Marcos, because we discovered it the day after that saint's feast day.
The Diary of the Return, continued, with the New Entrada made toward the North in search of the French.
27.Wednesday, the 27th, our party moved forward and halted on some pools, 87 near a little mott which borders on the trail.
28.Thursday, the 28th, we set out on our way, and the governor set out the same time with thirty companions toward the north bank, to look for the Frenchmen who had written. The main body (el real) halted on the River Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, on the other bank.
29.Friday, the 29th, the main body (el real) halted.
30.Saturday, the 30th, the main body (el real) again halted.
May.
1. Sunday, May 1st, about evening prayer, the governor arrived with his companions, bringing two Frenchmen streaked with paint after the Indian fashion. He had found them twenty-five leagues and more from where we had set out with the main body (el real). One of them, the one who had written the letter, was named Juan; the other, a native of Rochelle, was named Jacome. 88 They gave an account of the death of their people, the first saying that an epidemic (achaque) of small-pox had killed more than a hundred persons; that the rest had been on friendly terms with the Indians of all that region, and had no suspicion of them; that a little more than a month before five Indians had come to their settlement under pretext of telling them something and had stopped at the most remote house in the settlement; that the Frenchmen, having no suspicions, all went to the house unarmed to see them; that after they were inside other Indians kept coming and embracing them; that another party of Indians came in from the creek at the same time, and killed them all, including two religious and a priest, with daggers and sticks, and sacked all the houses; that they were not there at the time, having gone to the Texas; but that when they heard the news of this occurrence, [the] four of them came, and, finding their companions dead, they buried the fourteen they found; that they exploded (quemaron) nearly a hundred barrels of powder, so that the Indians could not carry it off; and that the settlement had been well provided with all sorts of firearms, swords, broadswords (alfanges), three chalices, and a large collection of books, with very rare bindings (encuadernadura muy curiosa). The two Frenchmen were streaked 89 with paint after the fashion of the Indians, and covered with antelope and buffalo hides. We found them in a ranchería of the chief of the Texas, who were giving them sustenance and keeping them with great care. We took him [the chief] to the camp and treated him with great kindness. Although unable to speak Castilian (vozal), he was an Indian in whom was recognized capacity. He had a shrine with several images. The governor gave him and the other Indians who had come with him generously (bastantamente) of what was left of the cotton garments (huepiles), knives, blankets, beads, and other goods. He was very much pleased and promised to come with some Indians of his nation to the Province of Cohaguila. 90 The governor made a separate report of all that was expedient or important in the declarations of the two Frenchmen, to send it to His Excellency. We continued our march to the Nueces River. On Tuesday, May 10, the governor halted with some companions to send a dispatch to His Excellency, giving an account of this discovery. We arrived at the Presidio of Cohaguila today, May 13th, at nightfall. 91 Here ends the diary. To insure its authenticity, it is signed by the governor,
Alonso de Leon.
Dr. R. M. Swearingen was a descendant of Garret van Sweringen, a native of Holland, who in his early youth entered the service of the Dutch West India Company, and whose duties as an employee of the company brought him in 1657, when he was only twenty years of age, to New Amsterdam. After van Sweringen's arrival, he gave up his place with the company, and a little later he settled at New Amstel (New Castle.) After the English conquest of the Dutch settlements in that quarter, he moved to Maryland. 93 Samuel Swearingen, grandson of Gerret v. Sweringen, migrated from Maryland to North Carolina. Samuel's son Frederick moved from North Carolina to Alabama, and Frederick's son, Richard J., moved thence first to Mississippi, and then to Texas. Richard J.'s son, Richard M., is the subject of this paper.
Richard Montgomery Swearingen was born in Noxubee County, Mississippi, September 26, 1838. In 1848 his father moved, as already noted, to Texas and settled in Washington County. Such general literary and scientific training as Richard had from schools was obtained at Chappell Hill College, Chappell Hill, Texas, and from Centenary College, Jackson, Louisiana. He attended Centenary College during the year 1857-1858, and up till December, 1858, when he was called home by the serious illness of his mother. On account of her death in January, 1859, he remained at home the rest of the year. The next fall he went to the New Orleans Medical College, where he attended lectures during the session 1859-1860. His return to the same institution for another year's work was prevented by the excitement then prevailing throughout the South over the prospect of secession. This movement he opposed as effectively as he could; but when the ordinance was adoptd by the people of Texas he felt it his duty to go with his state.
Young Swearingen volunteered in response to the first call for Texas troops. February 28, 1861, he joined Captain Ed. Waller's company at Galveston and was sent to Brownsville. After remaining there six months, during two of which he lay ill with a fever, he was discharged and returned to Chappell Hill. He had been back only a short time, when he received a commission to raise a company; but while he was engaged in the effort he learned that his younger brother, who was with the Confederate troops at Cumberland Gap, was sick and needing attention. On hearing the news, he went thither at once, enlisted as a substitute for his brother, and sent him home.
The day after his arrival in camp, his company was sent on a scouting expedition into the edge of Tennessee; and, though he was at the time quite ill with pneumonia, he went along. At evening the second day, the company reached Sneedville, Tennessee, and the surgeon ordered Swearingen to seek shelter for himself. He went to the hotel, but found its accommodations already exhausted. He then went out into the village to look for quarters at a private residence. Attracted by the sound of a piano, he entered the house whence it came, and was heartily welcomed and given the attention he was needing. The home into which the young soldier had wandered was that of Mr. Lea Jessee. He remained there a month, during which time he was nursed back to health and strength by Miss Jennie Jessee, the daughter of his host; and the romance culminated in their marriage in the fall of 1864.
Shortly after Swearingen had relieved his brother, the Tennessee company which he had joined was reorganized, and he was elected first lieutenant. His fitness for promotion was soon tested. In the summer of 1862 his battalion was sent on a scouting expedition in the neighborhood of Cumberland Gap, and he was put in command of the advanced guard, a detachment only six in number. On June 12, as he was riding along with his little party, he found the way blocked by a handful of Federals. He opened fire on them, but immediately he observed a large body of troops hurrying to cut him off from his battalion, then some distance further back on the road he had come. He gave the order to retreat, and he and his men dashed off at full gallop. As they passed they received the fire of a whole regiment which had halted in line parallel to the road and within twenty paces, and they had to ride six hundred yards before they reached shelter. Lieutenant Swearingen's horse was shot and brought to his knees, but regained his feet and carried his rider out of danger. In spite of the concentrated fire, only one man of the party was struck, and he was not killed.
During the fall of 1862, when the Confederate forces under General Bragg advanced into Kentucky, Lieutenant Swearingen's brigade participated in the movement, and he had his full share of marching and fighting. A brief and general account of his experiences during that campaign written by himself many years afterward, but with such characteristic modesty as evidently to conceal much that one would like to know, gives, when read between the lines, a vivid impression of what peril and suffering he must have had to undergo. He did not, however, participate in the battle of Perryville, for the reason that his brigade was engaged at the time with a division on the left of Buell's main army, and some ten or fifteen miles away.
On December 15, 1862, Lieutenant Swearingen was promoted to the captaincy of his company. Soon afterwards he took part in the battle of Murfreesboro. The night before the battle he was very ill—so ill, indeed, that the officers of his company concealed from him orders that had been received to march during the night, and the whole body stole away in the early morning without notifying him. When the fighting began, however, he made his way first to a hospital where the wounded were receiving attention and where he gave such help as he could, and then to the field. On the second day of the battle he succeeded in finding his company once more. That day, in obedience to orders from General Hardee, he led a detail of thirty men in a perilous charge to ascertain the exact location and strength of a body of Federal troops stationed in a clump of trees a half mile in front of the Confederate left wing, which he accomplished to Hardee's entire satisfaction.
Captain Swearingen's narrative covers only a few days subsequent to the battle of Murfreesboro, and for a detailed account of the rest of his war experiences I have no materials available. Suffice it to say that he was with Joseph E. Johnston in the retreat through Georgia, and later in North Carolina, and that he remained in service till the war was over.
On one occasion during the course of the operations in which Captain Swearingen's company was engaged in East Tennessee, as it approached Hume's Ferry on the Tennessee River above the town of Loudon, information was received to the effect that a band of bushwhackers was in waiting to contest the passage. The company had to cross by a ford which was about one hundred and fifty yards wide, where the current was swift, and the extreme depth of the water was from four to five feet. The bushwhackers were known to be good shots, and the bank towards which the crossing must be made, and where they were supposed to be concealed, was steep and heavily timbered and an excellent place for a force to lie in ambuscade. The danger of the crossing was evident; and, when the company reached the ford, Captain Swearingen called for volunteers to lead the way and draw the fire of the enemy, but none responded. Thereupon he gave some directions to his first lieutenant, 94 bade his men goodbye, turned his horse, and rode into the stream alone. In a moment or two, hearing a great noise behind him, he looked back and found the whole company was following. It proved that the alarm was false, and that there was no enemy in wait; but this happy issue of the affair had been foreseen neither by Captain Swearingen nor by his men, and it was none the less a supreme test of his soldierly manhood, as well as of their own.
September 12, 1864, Captain Swearingen was married to Miss Jessee. Ten days later he was captured at the home of her father in Sneedville by a party of bushwhackers. He was kept a prisoner in their camp for weeks, with the prospect of death before him unless he could procure a money ransom. His wife meanwhile sought to effect his release by exchanging for him some of the bushwhackers who had been captured by the Confederate troops. Accompanied only by her little brother, she undertook toilsome and perilous journeys on foot to the Confederate camp in order to get assistance from the officers in accomplishing her object. Twice she reached the spot where the camp had been located, only to learn that it was moved. Finally she went to her husband himself, but after a short interview she was forced to leave him in the hands of his captors. 95 Every means of saving his life had now apparently been exhausted, and the day for his execution was appointed; but it may have been that this was intended only as the final test of the resources of his friends. At any rate, the captain of the gang, who was under strong personal obligations to Mr. Jessee, instead of carrying out the sentence, himself escorted Captain Swearingen safely to the home of his wife.
When the war was over, after a little exciting experience as a schoolteacher in West Virginia, Captain Swearingen returned to his old home at Chappell Hill, Texas. Taking up again the thread of his normal life where it had been broken off in 1860, he resumed his work at the New Orleans Medical College and finished his course there in 1867.
The professional knowledge and skill of the young physician were immediately put to the test by one of those calls which he was always quick to heed for their employment in the service of humanity. The occasion referred to was the spread of yellow fever through southeast Texas in the summer of 1867. On the outbreak of the disease in Chappell Hill, Dr. Swearingen at once threw himself into the struggle against it with exhaustless courage and energy. He and his wife and their baby daughter were all stricken with the fever, and the little one died, but the father and mother recovered.
Eleven years later Dr. Swearingen answered an appeal for like humanitarian service in another state. Meanwhile—in 1875—he had moved to Austin. In the fall of 1878, when the yellow fever was raging in Memphis and in Holly Springs, Mississippi, and there was a call for medical assistance, he immediately volunteered, and with him went another physician from Austin, Dr. T. D. Manning. Because the necessity of Holly Springs seemed greatest, they went there. In seventeen days from the time they left home, Dr. Manning died of the fever, but Dr. Swearingen continued at his post until the plague was over. What feelings towards him this inspired among the people of Holly Springs may be inferred from the expression of the local paper of the town, which said that, while not intending to single out as pre-eminent for service and self-sacrifice any one among those who had come to the help of the town, “a common sense of justice impels us to give to the world the name of Dr. R. M. Swearingen, who for measureless energy and conspicuous devotion to his sick is facile princeps.”
One result of the epidemic of 1878 was the appointment by President Hayes, in pursuance of action taken by Congress, of a commission of nine experts to investigate and report on the subject of epidemics. Dr. Swearingen was a member of this commission. The outcome of its report was the creation of the National Board of Health, which was later merged in the Marine Hospital Bureau.
In 1881 Dr. Swearingen was appointed state health officer of Texas, and with the exception of the four years 1887-1891 he held the position till his death. In the discharge of his official duties, his courage, tact, and patience were often severely tested, but he was always equal to the emergency. In spite of the fact that he frequently had to resist the popular impulse, he attracted and held popular commendation with rare success.
Not the least of Dr. Swearingen's public services was his activity in organizing the public schools of the city of Austin. He was for many years an active and efficient member of the board of public school trustees, being for most of the time its president.
Dr. Swearingen died of Bright's disease, August 9, 1898. He had been for years a sufferer from this malady; but, knowing its nature as he did, he had been able to keep it in check. In his anxiety, however, to guard the interests of the state during the epidemic of yellow fever in 1897, he neglected his own health and thus shortened his life.
Though the subject lends itself to such treatment, this is no eulogy. It is intended rather as a plain, uncolored account of a life which the writer believes to be a genuine historical influence. Because he so believes, he has undertaken to prepare this brief sketch, doing it in the hope that it may assist some reader the better to understand the generation which was at once the mold, and also bears the permanent impress of that life.
96Political disturbances always offer pretexts for absurd and false rumors. Thus, during the past year the newspapers have given us the most alarming impressions, founded only upon hearsay or upon the false or imperfect understanding of facts in whose interpretation appearances only have been considered, without a previous examination of their true character and significance.
Such are the rumors spread abroad during the course of two years to the effect that the people of Texas have attempted and desire separation from the Mexican republic, that they have disobeyed the government, that they do not wish to be law-abiding, and other imputations with whose falsity the supreme government of the nation and that of the state of Coahuila and Texas are well acquainted. But the public, which has not had the requisite information, can not understand the origin of these calumnies or the appearances from which they have emanated; consequently, it is an act of justice, demanded by the circumstances, that it should be explained to the people, as well for their own satisfaction—since the Mexican populace has the right to be correctly informed concerning everything that bears relation to the common interest—as for the vindication of the worthy people of Texas, who, perhaps, on account of such rumors, have suffered unjustly in the good opinion of their fellow-citizens, which they deserve and ought to enjoy, as Mexicans who have never deviated in the slightest from their obligations.
For the proper understanding of the affairs of Texas a glance is necessary at the geographical and political situation of the country, at the character and occupations of its inhabitants, and at its productions, in order, in view of these premises, to answer the fundamental question, What are the true interests of Texas?
That district was a distinct and separate province under the Spanish government, and, as such, it was a participant in the war for independence, was represented in the constituent congress, and was provisionally united to Coahuila by the law of May 7, 1824, to form the state of Coahuila and Texas. It is exclusively agricultural, its inhabitants are tillers of the soil, and possess the virtues of industry, strength of character, regular habits, and ardent love of liberty and of prompt and wholesome administration of justice, which usually animate this important class in all enlightened countries. With their arms they have conquered those lands, warring incessantly against the savage Indians; with their plows they have made the desert disappear; and they are habitually enterprising.
The chief products of Texas are cotton, corn, beans, indigo, tobacco, garden vegetables, lard, cheese, butter, and all kinds of stock known in the republic. Its rivers and creeks afford abundant facilities for the establishment of mills and factories. The climate is hot in summer and cold in winter; it is unhealthful on the rivers and along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, which borders Texas from the Sabine river to the Nueces. There are ports adequate to accommodate, and abundant timber for the construction of, medium sized vessels.
Every one who has any knowledge in regard to the commerce of Texas must know that the Mexican markets are the best in the world for the products of Texas. Ginned cotton is worth seven or eight pesos 97 an arroba 98 in Mexico, Puebla, San Luis, etc., while in the United States of America and in Europe it is worth from two to four pesos. Corn in the ports of Matamoros, Tampico, Vera Cruz, and Campeche is worth from four to six pesos a fanego, 99 and in Texas it is worth from six reales 100 to one peso, and almost the same in New Orleans; in the Mexican ports lard is worth from one to two reales a pound, while in New Orleans and other parts of the North [North America] it is worth a half real at best, and the same proportion holds true with reference to all the products of Texas.
In regard to exportation to foreign countries, it is very evident that it can be carried on under the Mexican flag as easily as under that of any other nation whatever. The Texans would receive from foreigners merchandize in exchange for their products, while from their Mexican fellow-citizens they receive gold and silver.
The farmers of Texas believe that in agricultural products they can compete with the landowners and agriculturists of the southern part of the republic on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, because the habits of the Texans and their practical experience in the different branches of agriculture ought, for many years at least, to offset the advantage that the others have in the natural fertility of lands, the mildness of climate, and the nearness to market. Consequently they think that they can, in general, sell their products in the ports of the Gulf at a lower price than those of the same grade from the haciendas 101 of other districts are sold.
From this competition will always result a national benefit, since it will greatly hasten the advancement and the true aggrandizement and independence of the republic, for it will increase industry and agriculture in all sections, particularly as to those products adapted for export.
At the present time the exports of the republic are reduced to little more than gold and silver, whence it follows that the Mexicans are the miners for other nations. Let such a state of affairs change; let the imports be paid for with agricultural products such as sugar, cotton, indigo, cocoa, etc.; let mining unite with flourishing agriculture, and in a few years Mexico will present an interesting picture of wealth and prosperity hitherto unknown to the world.
Commerce by land from the ports of Texas to the interior of the republic presents advantages almost equal to the coast trade, since that country is level and very well adapted for highways to Monclova and the other towns of Coahuila, to El Paso del Norte in the state of Chihuahua, and to New Mexico. It is worthy of note that every year about two million pesos' worth of merchandise enters New Mexico and Chihuahua from Missouri across more than four hundred leagues of desert. This commerce from Missouri is entirely outside the course which the geopraphical situation of the country and nature itself has marked out; the ports of Texas were evidently designed for it. There is no difficulty in opening highways from Texas to the state of Chihuahua and to New Mexico, whose length would not be half the actual distance over which merchandize from Missouri is now transported, and they would pass throughout their whole extent within Mexican territory by the way of the interior of Texas, which can be settled and would afford abundant means for facilitating the transportation. The work of opening these roads is certainly of the greatest importance, since it would change the course of the commerce that now comes from Misouri from that foreign country to the Mexican ports of Texas, and consequently all the advantages from the payments for freight and transportation would pass from the freighters of Missouri to Mexican citizens; it would increase the income of the maritime custom-houses; it would distribute merchandize to the inhabitants of the interior at less cost than [if brought by the other route] from Missouri, on account of the reduction of the distance and of the expenses of transportation; it would attract settlers to the vast uninhabited districts of the interior, because of the advantage of establishing themselves along the road or near it, and thus without cost to the government would subdue the savage Indians who now are desolating the frontiers of Chihuahua; it would form a new and very strong chain to draw closer the union of Texas with the interior states of the republic, identifying their interests by means of a commercial intercourse, intimate, direct, and of mutual advantage; finally it would change the isolated and solitary position that Texas now occupies, bringing it into contact, through facility of transportation, with the most remote states of the interior. To establish these roads has been one of the favorite projects of the citizen Austin, who has labored with enthusiasm for the advancement of this, his adopted country; but it is a great enterprise and beyond the common routine of slow progress, and consequently it needs the support of the general and state governments, and their favor in the concession of certain privileges and special advantages.
The federal system has as its foundation the general and individual happiness; and the distinct parts of a society thus constituted are cemented, to form the national unity, by private interest and advantage working in harmony with the common welfare. Applying these principles to Texas, it is evident that instead of there being any antagonism between its own welfare as a state of the Mexican federation, and the common interests of the national unity, the pecuniary as well as all other interests of Texas bind more closely its union to the Mexican republic and must be better promoted with Texas as a part of Mexico than as a part of any other nation whatever.
Without further extending this general view, and in order not to weary the reader, these premises are sufficient in reason and sound politics to answer the important question, What are the interests of Texas?
The Texans are persuaded that these interests demand for them a local government as a state of the Mexican federation, and that, as such, the very nature of things will strengthen more and more the union of the state with the republic. It would not be strange if the landowners 102 should desire the separation of Texas from Mexico to prevent competition in agricultural articles; but it would be so if the Texans should seek it only to lose the best market for their products.
But it will be asked, Whence have arisen so many rumors concerning the separation of Texas from the Mexican republic? How is it that the public has been deceived by such erroneous and false impressions concerning this point? Why was the citizen Stephen Austin, agent and commissioner of the people of Texas to the supreme government of the federation, imprisoned and kept almost a year in the dungeons of Mexico?
A satisfactory reply to these questions will be found in a brief review of the political occurrences in that country in recent years. From an examination of these events the impartial man can not fail to be convinced that all the equivocations and false rumors that have appeared in the newspapers have arisen solely from having inferred positive facts and definite results from superficial appearances of things, without the thorough knowledge of them, obtained by previous analysis, so necessary to clarify the truth and to secure the practical and genuine demonstration which justice, patriotism, national honor, and the true interests of the country demand. Finally, by sounding the intentions of the inhabitants of Texas, bearing in mind the circumstances, an impartial and just judgment concerning the matter will be formed.
In the year 1821 Texas was scantily populated by civilized people, but was full of savage and roving Indians; since of the first there were only the old villas of Béjar and Bahía del Espíritu Santo, whose united population at the time did not exceed three thousand five hundred inhabitants.
In this year was begun the settlement of those deserts by means of foreign colonists whom the empresario Stephen Austin brought to the country under the authority which, previous to the change of government, had been conceded to his father. Protected by the liberal system which was the outgrowth of independence, Texas continued its progress until in 1830 the growth of population and the consequent social needs began to involve grave inconvenience on account of the bad organization of the local government.
The system established for the local administration of Texas by the government of Coahuila and Texas, although perhaps the best that the circumstances permitted in 1825, when it was organized, was never adequate, and, as the country became settled, grew to be unbearable. In all Texas there was not one justice of the peace, and the alcaldes, in all important civil and criminal affairs, had to consult with the assessor of the capital of the state, two hundred and fifty or three hundred leagues distant.
In the year 1832 the evils which grew out of this situation became so extreme that the ayuntamientos earnestly petitioned the legislature of the state, begging for adequate reforms in all branches of public administration. The ayuntamiento of Béjar, on the 19th of December, 1832, gave a long enumeration of these evils It should be observed that this town is the old capital of Texas, that its population is composed entirely of native Mexicans, and that its memorial was adopted by the people in mass meeting. Speaking of the administration of justice, this memorial says: “In the judicial department there has never been the proper organization, and it may be said with well founded reason that in this branch there is not, nor has there been, any government in Texas.”
The same memorial, referring to the anti-constitutional and inadequate laws that were passed by the state legislature when the capital was in Saltillo, says: “The people of Texas could have declared themselves in a state of nature and proceeded at once to the organization of a government of their own adequate to their needs and local conditions, and their not having done so, though possessing the right, is and ought to be a satisfactory and conclusive reply to the accusations and calumnies with which certain enemies of Texas have attempted to deceive the Mexican people, scattering vague and false rumors against the colonists and other inhabitants of this country.”
This memorial concludes its argumentative part in these terms: “The grievous situation of this valuable portion of the republic, and the only hopes of remedy that remain are finally demonstrated. Your Honor, persuaded of the importance of this petition and of the necessity for it, will surely appreciate the sincere and frank language with which this body has explained itself in the name of the sentiments that animate this vicinity, which, openly and without thinking even remotely that under any aspect there is a question of disavowing the dear and priceless name of Mexican which it possesses, begs your Honor will do it the justice of believing that the motive of this memorial, besides its evident right, is to avoid the most extremely irreparable consequences, which, perhaps, are already showing themselves and will be very difficult to remedy in the deplorable event of not heeding its demands. Heaven endow your Honor with foresight and due justice to examine impartially this interesting subject!”
The memorial of the villa of Bahía del Espíritu Santo (now called Goliad), also an old Mexican settlement, is even more energetic than that of Béjar. All the ayuntamientos of Texas drew up similar memorials.
What has been set forth on this point is sufficient to show to the public that the evils from which Texas was suffering at that time were of the greatest gravity, and that all the discontent there resulted from the absolute lack of adequate local government and from no other cause.
In the summer of the year of 1832 the principles of the plan of Vera Cruz obtained a foothold in Texas. In June a portion of the people pronounced in its favor, and in July and August all Texas. The military detachments also adhered to the aforesaid plan, and set out by sea and land to join the liberal forces at that time. During these events there were some collisions between the military and the inhabitants, as was the case in all part of the republic and as very naturally would happen in time of a national revolution. Persons who either did not understand these events or desired to misinterpret them limited themselves solely to appearances and to the material fact of the collisions, without analyzing the causes or the principles that influenced the inhabitants who were caluniously charged, because of false impressions, with the design of separating themselves from the Mexican republic.
The memorials to the state legislature in December did not have the desired results. Things were going from bad to worse. Savage Indians were menacing the whole frontier. A general conflagration was compassing the entire republic, and the Texans could see nothing except a direful future. If those people under circumstances so critical and alarming had in fact declared their separation from Coahuila seeking relief and order in their own resources, taking the place wished for in the Mexican federation, it is probable at least that impartial men would have given their approbation on principles of necessity and self-preservation. They did not do it, nor did they attempt it. What they did was to come together peaceably in conventions, by means of delegates chosen by popular vote, in order to present their needs to the general Mexican government and to seek timely remedies.
Through the newspapers this step of calling the convention has been attacked. In “La Razon y la Ley,” published in Saltillo, it was denominated as anticonstitutional, unknown to the laws, and revolutionary. If it would not seem burlesque irony it might be asked of the editors of this periodical whether the pronunciamientos, including that of Saltillo itself of the past year, are not revolutionary, and whether they are constitutional, and known to the laws. The object that the pronunciamientos have had has been to change the government with arms in hand, to establish some law or authority, or to seek reforms by force. Would to heaven all pronunciamientos that have been and shall be were exactly like that of the Texas convention! No force was employed. Popular elections were held to name agents and commissioners. And for what purpose? In order respectfully and in a fitting and peaceable manner to present to the general government the needs of the people.
This is indeed a right of petition which belongs to every free people and is an essential part of the republican system, because it is born of the fundamental principle that the will of the people forms the safest standard to guide the deliberations of public agents, and that this will ought to be expressed in the simplest and most direct manner, not by means of insurrections, clash of arms, threats, nor with lack of respect.
The convention was held in the town of Austin, a central point, on April 1, 1833. The people of Texas were there represented by fifty commissioners or delegates. Memorials directed to the general government were drawn up, among them one soliciting the erection of Texas into a state of the Mexican federation separate from Coahuila; and citizen Stephen Austin was chosen as commissioner or agent of Texas to carry them up to the supreme government and to urge action concerning them in the capital of the republic. These specific and sole purposes of the convention accomplished, it was dissolved and its members withdrew to their homes.
It is important to bear in mind the basis upon which Texas foun