Texas

Texas - A Brief Account of the Origin, Progress and Present State of the Colonial Settlements of Texas; Together with an Exposition of the Causes which have induced the Existing War with Mexico

It will be seen that the title of this little pamphlet implies more than it contains. As war is now the order of the day, only a small portion of the political part of the work on "Texas" is here presented. It is hoped and believed that enough is unfolded to convince the most incredulous that the colonists of Texas have been forced into this contest with the mother country, by persecutions and oppressions, as unremitting as they have been unconstitutional. That it is not a war waged by them for cupidity or conquest, but for the establishment of the blessings of liberty and good government, without which life itself is a curse and man degraded to the level of the brute. If the time-hallowed principle of the Declaration of Independence, namely, "that governments are instituted for the protection and happiness of mankind, and that whenever they become destructive of these ends it is the right, nay it is the duty of the people to alter or abolish them." If this sacred principle is recognised and acted upon, all must admit that the colonists of Texas have a clear right to burst their fetters, and have also a just claim for recognition as an independent nation, upon every government not wholly inimical to the march of light and liberty, and to the establishment of the unalienable rights of man. No. I. The unconstitutional oppression long and unremittingly practised upon the colonists of Texas, having at length become insupportable, and having impelled them to take up arms in defence of their rights and liberties, it is due to the world that their motives, conduct and causes of complaint should be fully made known. In order to do this it will be necessary to explain the origin, progress and present state of the colonial settlements. Without parade or useless preliminaries, I shall proceed to the subject, as substance and not soundmatter and not manner are the objects of the present discussion. It is known at least to the reading and inquiring world, that on the dissolution of the connection between Mexico and Spain in 1822, Don Augustin Iturbide, by corruption and violence, established a short-lived, imperial government over Mexico, with himself at the head under the title of Augustin I. On arriving at supreme power, Iturbide or Augustin I. found that vast portion of the Mexican government, east of the Rio Grande, known by the name of Texas, to be occupied by various tribes of Indians, who committed incessant depredations on the Mexican citizens West of the Rio Grande, and prevented the population of Texas. He ascertained that the savages could not be subdued by the arms of Mexico, nor could their friendship be purchased. He ascertained that the Mexicans, owing to their natural dread of Indians, could not be induced to venture into the wilderness of Texas. In addition to the dread of Indians, Texas held out no inducements for Mexican emigrants. They were accustomed to a lazy pastoral or mining life, in a healthy country. Texas was emphatically a land of agriculturethe land of cotton and of sugar cane, with the culture of which staples they were wholly unacquainted; and moreover, it abounded in the usual concomitants of such southern regionsfevers, mosquitoes &c., which the Mexicans hated with a more than natural or reasonable hatred. Iturbide finding from those causes that Texas could not be populated with his own subjects, and that so long as it remained in the occupancy of the Indians, the inhabited parts of his dominions continually suffered from their ravages and murders, undertook to expel the savages by the introduction of foreigners. Accordingly the national institute or council, on the 3d day of January, 1823, by his recommendation and sanction, adopted a law of colonization, in which they invited the immigration of foreigners to Texas on the following terms: ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 7355
Author: Wharton, William H. (William Harris)
Release Date: Jan 1, 2005
Format: eBook
Language: English