the views of these cormorant speculators; and lands are freely offered as an inducement for the enterprising and daring to emigrate from the United States and other countries. Many such have accepted the invitation, and in numerous instances have taken lands to which they can have no rightful claim whatever, and hold the same in violation of the laws.

In case the Independence of Texas shall be established, all grants and claims, as aforesaid, are legalized, (particularly if the claimants take an active part in the revolution;) the system of slavery is to be re-established upon a firm Constitutional basis; and every facility will be given to the introduction of slaves from the United States, Cuba, and Africa. This, it is confidently believed, will afford great opportunities to build up princely fortunes in the Texian Empire, by the sale of land, the extended traffic in slaves, &c.

their adhesion, or refused to join the colonists in an insurrection.†

Previous to the arrival of Austin in Texas, a small number of troops reached its southern borders under General Cos. The government had not contemplated an open resistance on the part of the colonists to the re-establishment of the custom-houses, the enforcement of the laws, &c, and did not send an adequate number to compel their obedience. But, true to their long-settled determination, they proceeded to arrest the march of the Mexican troops into that part of the country. Austin had visited New Orleans on his way home. There the future plans of operation were concocted. He was accompanied to Texas by some daring adventurers. An army was immediately organized. Mexican revenue cutters were seized, under the charge of pirating upon the commerce of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico.# The troops under General Cos were driven into the fort at San Antonio de Bexar. Expeditions were fitted out in various parts of the United States, and auxiliary forces proceeded to the assistance of the colonists, under the guise of emigrant settlers. An agent of the Texas land-specu

Orleans, for the express purpose of forwarding these "emigrants,' &c. Austin took the command of the colonial army, but he soon thereafter relinquished the office, leaving the Mexican troops besieged at San Antonio. He never was popular with the turbulent spirits in Texas; and they now got him out of their way by giving him the appointment of commissioner to procure further aid, both physical and pecuniary, from the United States.

It was not considered sound policy, to declare the Texas country entirely independent of Mexico, while the hope of continuing the Federal form of government existed. The colonists still felt themselves too weak to compete with the power of the republic; and it was doubtful whether the auxiliary force from the United States, which they expected to co-lators in New York was stationed at New operate with them, would be sufficient to ensure success. Besides, they were somewhat divided in opinion among themselves as to the measures that should be adopted, and the men who should be intrusted with the authority to direct the operations of the scheme. The most of those who marshalled as political and military leaders, were upstarts in whom they had little confidence-some of them broken down politicians and mere adventurers from the United States-persons, in fact, of very doubtful character and capacity. When the change in the form of government was proposed, therefore, they declared for the Constitution of 1824, hoping that the native citizens of the State of Coahuila & Texas, as well as those of several contiguous States, would unite with them. This would give them time at least, if successful, to acquire more numerical strength to carry out their main design at a future period. But in the result of these calculations, they were totally disappointed. When it was ascertained that a large majority of the states readily sanctioned the proposition to alter the Constitution, and that every one, except Coahuila & Texas, finally acquiesced, without attempting forcible resistance, the native inhabitants of this State also gave in

* I have heretofore adverted to the fact, that slaves have already been introduced from Africa, by the connivance of the colonists, with perfect impunity. We have recently been informed, through the newspapers, that facilities were given to the commander of a regular slave-trading vessel (clandestinely of course,) to procure supplies at New York, and proceed to his destination. And it has been more than insinuated, that persons in high official stations, deeply engaged in Texas land-speculation, were instrumental in furnishing this s'aver with means to prosecute his nefarious enterprise. I have no doubt of the truth of the statement.

It has been asserted, that the proposal to change the form of government was made, and enforced, by the usurped authority of the President. This is not true. by the general Congress, and acquiesced in by the MexThe measure was recommended by others, sanctioned ican people very generally. The Executive, as in duty bound, merely proceeds to enforce the national will. The Mexicans had become weary of the dissentions arising under the Federal organization. The "nullifiers" of that Republic acted with more spirit than those laws of the general government, they frequently essayed of our country. When they resolved to abrogate the to put their threats in execution; and, in too many instances, blood was shed, before their disputes were their Constitution, the main essential features of a resettled. In the proposed amendments or alterations of publican government were preserved; and as the form people generally, they hoped for more tranquillity and was more simple, and easier to be comprehended by the permanent prosperity under it.

The writer of this was travelling in company with a the period here alluded to, who had been stationed on captain of one of the United States revenue cutters at

the coast of Louisiana a short time before. There were then loud complaints, in the newspapers, of the negligence of our government in protecting our commerce in the Gulf of Mexico.-The Captain was questioned as to the actual state of things there. He replied as follows: "These complaints proceed altogether from the smugglers. The commanders of vessels whom they denominate pirates, are regularly commissioned revenue officers, acting under the authority of the Mexican government. The smuggling gentry are sometimes detected, and their goods, arms, ammunition, &c., taken from them; and then they have the barefaced assurance to call upon our government to protect them in violating the Mexican laws."

REVIEW OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

Nava,

Gonzales, (De Witt's colony,)

It was then "neck or nothing" with the Cienegas, speculators and advocates of slavery. They Abasole, could not even stand upon the basis of Candela, Santa Rosa, "State sovereignty," as a great majority of Guerrero, the citizens of Cohauila & Texas itself had Rosas, agreed, tacitly at least, to the new order of things.* A fractional part only, and that Gigedo, almost entirely composed of foreigners, were Morelos, disposed to resist, for any considerable length Allende, of time, the decree of the general Congress. Bexar, A meeting of some of the colonists and adven- Goliad, turers was held, and the incipient steps were Austin, taken to proclaim the independence and Nacogdoches, Sovereignty of Texas. It was proposed, in describing the limits, to leave the western boundary undefined, in order that the contemplated new republic might embrace as much of the Mexican territory as could be conquered. The intention of the revolutionists is, to comprehend within its limits a vast extent of country west of Texas proper, viz. parts of Coahuila and the former states of Tamaulipas and Chihuahua, as well as most of the territory of Santa Fe. The "grants" to which I have heretofore alluded cover nearly the total sur face of this extensive region, with the exception of those portions of Tamaulipas and Chihuahua, which they have in view. In fact, their object is to extend the bounds of the Texian Empire to the Rio Bravo del Norte, at least as high up as its great bend, where it passes through the eastern chain of the Rocky Mountains.

I will now proceed to a brief review of the "Declaration of Independence," recently issued by the Texas colonists.But I will preface my remarks upon this particular subject, with a statement of the population of Coahuila & Texas, as far as it was correctly ascertained in the year 1832-33, immediately previous to the proposed establishment of an "Independent State" in Texas, under the Mexican Constitution of 1824. This statement is taken from official documents. The municipalities, or districts, named, comprise the population of cities or towns, with the inhabitants contiguous thereto, viz.:

Municipalities.

Total,

9

1,651

1,237

2,491

2,334

1,015

2,122

569

863

616

678

1,677

1,439

6,186

834

466

84,672

Of these municipalities, the five last named, only, are in what was originally called the Pro vince of Texas. The population of that of Austin, as well as Gonzales, is wholly composed of foreigners. Those of Nacogdoches, and Goliad, contain a large number of native inha bitants. In that of Bexar there are very few foreigners. The others, likewise, contain none of consequence. But although a correct census of the whole population of Texas had not been taken, and of course the exact number was not officially ascertained, an estimate was made by an agent of the general government, commissioned for the purpose, at the period alluded to. He visited the different settlements, and obtained his information from the most intelligent colonists themselves. According to his calculation, the whole then amounted to 21,000. If we deduct the number of native inhabitants in Bexar, Goliad, and Nacogdoches, (say 3,000,) from this estimate, it will appear that the colonists and other foreigners in Texas, at that time, numbered about 18,000. This, it is presumed, included persons of all colors, and in all conditions, We will, except the uncivilized Indians. however, suppose that the number of foreignThe ers themselves amounted to 20,000. whole population of the State would thus be It will therefore appear, that about 97,000. the number of the colonists was less than onefourth of the population and even of that proportion a moiety, perhaps, had not taken 24,087 measures to acquire legal title to citizenship. 3,499 From this view of the state of things it is evi3,576 dent, that if the colonists could not exercise as 11,941 much influence in the legislation of the State as they wished, there was a reason for it. 5,021 1,005 They had their proportion of representatives 4,212 in the popular branch of government, and all 1,984 were governed by the same general laws. If they had sufficient cause of complaint, their views, their objects, and their supposed interests, must have been very different from those of the native inhabitants of the country, to whose government they had voluntarily pledged their allegiance. But I have before stated what their views and objects were, and shall at present merely request the reader to bear the same in mind.

No. of inhabitants.

*We do not learn that more than two native Mexicans of note, have joined the colonists and foreign adventurers, in the present insurrection. These are, Zavala, and General Mexia. The first is one of the "empresarios" connected with the Galvezton Bay and Texas Land Company," of New York; and the last was banished from the Republic, I believe, on some charge of a treasonable nature. They are both deeply engaged in the land speculations before alluded to-but

neither of them were residents of the State of Coahuila & Texas.

2

:

as

In pointing out some of the gross errors, or the unwarrantable assumptions, in the Declaration of Independence lately promulgated by the colonists, I will endeavor to use much brevity as the case will permit. Passing over their preamble, our attention is directed to an enumeration of sundry grievances, the first of which is stated as follows:"The Mexican government, by its colonization laws, invited and induced the Anglo-American population to colonize its wilderness, under the pledged faith of a written constitution, that they should continue to enjoy that constitutional liberty and republican government to which they had been habituated in the land of their birth, the United States of America. In this expectation they had been cruelly disappointed--as the Mexican nation has acquiesced in the late changes made in the government by Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna;-who having overturned the constitution of this country, now offers us the cruel alternative, either to abandon our homes, acquired by so many privations, or submit to the most intolerable of all tyranny, the combined despotism of the sword and the priesthood."

Here the idea is inculcated, that the Mexican nation solemnly pledged itself to guarantee to the colonists the same form of government that they had been accustomed to in the United States. It is true, that in organizing their go vernment, the Mexicans adopted a plan very similar to our own. But the terms upon which they invited and permitted the settlement of foreigners were, that they must be subject to the regulations which the constituted authorities should from time to time see fit to make.

The business of colonizing commenced under the authority of the Spanish Monarchy; it was continued under the Imperial form of government, previous to the establishment of the Federal system; and every change was sanctioned by the colonists, and the declaration of their allegiance renewed, until they conceived the plan and purpose of asserting their "Independence. Their charge against the Presi dent, of usurping authority and establishing a military despotism, is not borne out by facts. The change in the form of government was made by the representatives of the people, not by the Executive. The Constitutional Republic still exists; and we have no evidence, that, in this respect, the President exercises any authority save that with which he is invested by the laws.

They proceed to say:

"It has sacrificed our welfare to the State of Coahuila, by which our interests have been continually depressed through a jealous and partial course of legislation, carried on at a far distant seat of government by a hostile majority in an unknown tongue; and this too, notwithstanding we have petitioned in the humblest terms for the establishment of a separate State government, and have in accordance with the provisions of the national constitution, presented to the general Congress a republican constitution, which was without just cause contemptuously rejected."

used by the colonists before they took the resolution to set up a government for themselves. That they should be disposed to complain of the transaction of legislative business in the Spanish tongue, is marvellous indeed! Had any one the folly to suppose that the natives would have adopted a foreign language, for the purpose, merely, to accommodate a handful of foreign settlers? As to the "bumble terms" in which they preferred their application for the privilege of establishing a State government, and the cause of rejection, I must also refer the reader to my former statements.

Alluding to Austin's imprisonment, they gravely assert:

"It incarcerated in a dungeon, for a long time, one of our citizens, for no other cause but a zealous endeavor to procure the acceptance of our Constitution and the establishment of a State government.” I will leave it to the decision of

every candid reader, whether the attempt to organize a State government, without the consent of the national Congress, and after that body had refused its sanction to the measure, can be fairly construed into a "zealous endeavor to procure the acceptance" of the instrument! I have before stated, particularly, the course he pursued in this case, and need not repeat it.

Proceeding with the enumeration of their "grievances," the colonists charge the govern ment, in their Declaration of Independence, as follows:

"It has failed and refused to secure on a firm civil liberty, and only safe guarantee for the life, libasis, the right of trial by jury, that palladium of berty and property of the citizens."

We do not learn that the general government ever officially declared, either by the Constitution or otherwise, that the "trial by jury" would be introduced in their code of laws. Yet the Mexican statesmen have evinced a disposition to establish their institutions upon the most liberal basis that the intelligence of the people and the state of things generally would permit. One of the articles of the Federal Constitution is in these words:

exercised by the tribunals that the Constitution may "160. The judicial power of each state shall be establish or designate, and all cases, civil or criminal, which appertain to the cognizance of those tribunals, shall be terminated in them to final judgment and execution."

The Spanish colonists had never been familiar with that excellent provision in the English code, the trial by jury: and as a substitute for it, the Mexican Federal Government adopted a system of Arbitration, which it was supposed would better comport with the habits and understandings of its citizens, at the period of the organization of the Republic. Regular Courts were established for the prompt transaction of all business connected with the judiciary; and the following articles of the Constitution guarantee the privilege of arbitration as

This language is very different from that aforesaid.

"156. None can be deprived of the right of ter-lows:minating his differences by means of arbitrators appointed by each party, whatever may be the situation of the controversy."

It was understood that the States were at liberty to establish the trial by jury, when, in the opinion of the Legislatures, the state of society should warrant it. And by the Constitution of Coahuila & Texas, the principle was recognised. The two following articles of that instrument relate particularly to arbitration and trial by jury:

"178. Every inhabitant of the state can terminate his differences, be the state of the case what it may, by the medium of arbitrators, or in any other extrajudicial manner; the agreement in this particular shall be religiously observed, and the sentence of the arbitrators executed if the parties who have made the compromise do not reserve the right of appeal." "192. One of the principal subjects for the attention of Congress, [State Legislature,] shall be to But they do not tell us that the State goestablish in criminal cases, the Trial by Jury, ex-vernment had previously nullified the acts of tending it gradually, and even adopting it in civil cases, in proportion as the advantages of this precious institution may be practically developed."

but few experienced naval commanders. Fo- my remarks, I must ask the attention of the reigners, in whom the government can repose reader to one more important specification, confidence, are therefore occasionally appoint- which they dwell on with particular emphasis, ed to the command of its armed vessels. I viz:-that "the whole nature of their governhave before stated that the colonists were ex- ment has been forcibly changed, without their tensively engaged in contraband trade, the consent;" (meaning without the consent of the introduction of slaves, &c. The custom Mexican people at large;) and that their house regulations were completely "nullified" "rulers" have established "a consolidated cenby them, when the Mexican troops were extral military despotism, in which every interest pelled in 1832. I believe that not a single is disregarded but that of the army and the revenue establishment was kept up, except in priesthood," &c. those inteior towns where the native popula- This sweeping, wholesale assumption is emtion was numerous. When the government bodied in their preamble; but in the sequel, vessels did succeed in capturing those engaged they admit that "the Mexican people have acin smuggling, &c., it was necessary to take quiesced in" what they are pleased to call "the them to ports guarded by troops, to prevent destruction of their liberty, and the substitutheir being retaken by the smugglers and law-tion therefore of a military government." A less "desperadoes" among the colonists themselves, in places where they could effect it with impunity. Possibly, some abuses may have existed under this regulation: but had the colonists consented to aid in the execution of the revenue laws in the Texas ports, such abuses (if there even were any) might have

been obviated.

Another apparently serious "grievance" is stated thus:

"It [the general government] denies us the right of worshipping the Almighty according to the dictates of our consciences-by the support of a national religion, calculated to promote the temporal interests of its human functionaries, rather than the glory of the true and living God."

few extracts from the Decree of the general Congress, relating to the proposed changes in the Constitution of the Republic, will throw some light upon this part of our subject, which is so completely involved in gloom by the "Declaration" of these revolutionists. The articles of the Decree aforesaid, from the third to the ninth, read thus:

"3. The system of government of the nation is a republican, popular, representative one.

4. The exercise of the supreme national power will continue to be divided into Legislative, Executive, and Judicial, which cannot be united in any case nor for any pretext.-There shall be established, moreover, means sufficient to prevent the three powers from transcending the limits of their attributes.

5. The exercise of the legislative power shall reside in a Congress of the representatives of the naand the other of Senators, who shall be elected tion, divided into two Chambers, one of Deputies, periodically by the people. The constitutional law will determine the qualifications which the electors and the elected must possess; the time, manner, and form of their elections; the period of the elect; and every thing relative to the essential organization of these two parts of the aforementioned power, and to the circle of their prerogatives.

6. The exercise of the Executive power shall reside in a President, to be elected indirectly and peother circumstances, as well as those of his election, riodically by the people, a Mexican by birth, whose his term of office, his powers and mode of exercising them, will be determined by the constitutional law.

The institution of an established religion is a grand defect in the organization of the Mexi. can Republic. But this is nothing more than what may be said of the English, and many other European, as well as American governments. The colonists well knew that none but the established religion was ever tolerated, constitutionally, by the Mexican government, when they took the oath of allegiance to it. Many of them formally embraced the predominant faith, were baptized, renewed their marriage contracts, &c., according to the rites of the Catholic church. But a disposition very generally prevailed among the Mexican people, to tolerate the public exercise of all other professions of the Christian religion; and both 7. The exercise of the Judicial power shall reside Methodists and Presbyterians held their meet- in a Supreme Court of Justice, and in the tribunals ings, openly, in the colonies, without the least degree of molestation from the government or individuals. Even laws were enacted, by Mexicans, providing for their protection in the enjoyment of their religious privileges. Had they shown a disposition to unite with the native inhabitants in supporting the laws of the country, there can be no doubt that these privileges would eventually have been guaranteed them by permanent constitutional regulations. I omit the notice of sundry items in the list of grievances, set forth by the framers of their "Declaration of Independence," as aforesaid. Many of them are merely incidental to the state of war, in which they have designedly involved themselves. But before I conclude

and judges, which the constitutional law shall establish: their prerogatives, their number, duration, radication, responsibility, and mode of election, the said law will establish.

8. The national territory will be divided into deconducive circumstances: a constitutional law will partments, upon the basis of population and other detail their number, extent, and subdivisions.

9. For the government of the Departments, there shall be Governors and departmental juntas; these shall be chosen by the people, in the mode and in the number, which the law shall establish; and those shall be appointed periodically, by the supreme executive power, on the proposal of the said juntas."

These are the principal leading features of the Constitution proposed for the Mexican Republic, under its new organization,

It