The History of Texas: Stephen F. Austin Visits Mexico
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Santa Anna Elected
President of Mexico: 1833)
Stephen F. Austin's Trip to Mexico City
For various causes, Austin was the only
one of the commissioners that went to Mexico. He set out shortly after
the adjournment of the convention, and reached the capitol in time to
see it the scene of confusion and intrigue. As his stay in Mexico was
lengthy, and greatly prolonged by political events, it will be proper to
refer to them in this place.
On the first of June next following the
installation of
Santa
Anna, General Duran pronounced in favor of the church and the
army—that is, a strong government—at the same time nominating Santa Anna
as dictator. It has been suggested that Santa Anna was at the bottom of
this movement, though without any other evidence than that of his
subsequent conduct. He sent out a strong force, under the command of
Arista, for its suppression, accompanying the expedition in person. On
the march, Arista himself declared for the plan of Duran, and secured
the person of the president, at the same time proclaiming him dictator.
This declaration was echoed back from the army in the city. But Gomez
Farias, a civilian, and an honest supporter of the constitution of 1824
—the vice-president, and acting as president in the absence of Santa
Anna—suspecting that the latter had some hand in this matter, proceeded,
with the aid of Lorenzo de Zavala, then governor of Mexico, to raise a
force of republicans, and in a short time put down this attempt upon the
constitution. Santa Anna appears to have remained a willing captive in
the hands of Arista. It was only when he found that the movement was
abortive, that he pretended to escape from his captors, and returned to
the capitol. Arista was pardoned, and Duran banished. This little farce
is an epitome of the life of Santa Anna, and coordinate with the Mexican
mind.
Upon these new laurels Santa Anna retired
to his estates, leaving the government in the hands of Farias and a
republican Congress. The country was deeply in debt, the revenues were
exhausted; the active means and resources of the nation had fallen into
the possession of the clergy. To lighten the public burden, the army was
reduced; and, to raise further means to meet the public wants, a part of
the revenues of the church were appropriated. These admirable decrees of
the Congress were duly approved by Farias. The church was thereupon
aroused, and, uniting with those opposed to the federal form of
government, poured in their petitions for the repeal of these laws.
Santa Anna, while in his retirement, meditating on his ambitious
projects, had determined in his mind to abandon the republican party,
overturn the constitution, and establish an absolute government. His
instruments to be used for the accomplishment of these ends were the
church and the army—acting at once on the superstitions and fears of the
people. Hence he gave countenance and encouragement to these petitions,
and openly expressed his dislike for Farias and his administration.
While Santa Anna was thus fanning the
flame of a civil war, in which he expected to reap the principal
harvest, Austin, the faithful representative of Texas, was endeavoring
in vain to obtain the action of the government upon the matters by him
laid before it. His petitions were referred to a committee of Congress,
where they slept, while a revolutionary contest was raging in many parts
of the republic, and especially about the capitol. To add to the
confusion, the cholera broke out with great virulence, and in a few
weeks carried off ten thousand of the inhabitants in the metropolis
alone. The epidemic had deranged the meetings of Congress; and so
desponding were the hopes of Austin, that, in his letter of the 2d of
October, 1833, to the municipality of Bexar, he recommended that all the
municipalities of Texas should unite in organizing a state, under the
provisions of the Acta Constitutiva of May 7, 1824, and, by union and
harmony, prepare for a refusal of their application by the supreme
government. He further advised them that, if they did not take matters
into their own hands, Texas was ruined forever. While this letter was on
its way, Austin succeeded in procuring the repeal of the law of April 6,
1830, prohibiting natives of the United States from immigrating hither
as colonists, and set out for home on the 10th of December, 1833. But
his letter of the 2d of October was transmitted by the municipality of
Bexar to Vice-President Farias, who, finding in it what he believed to
be treasonable matter, dispatched an express for Austin, had him
arrested at Saltillo, and taken back to Mexico and imprisoned.
Farias, though in principle a republican,
was not accustomed to the freedom of speech natural to the Texans. In
the October previous, Austin had told him very plainly that the Texans
had determined, if the federal government did not remedy the evils which
threatened them, "to remedy them themselves, without waiting any longer
on the ground that self-preservation rendered such a step necessary, and
would justify it." Farias construed this into a threat and personal
insult; and, though he had become partially reconciled to Austin before
he departed on the 10th of December, the letter to the corporation of
Bexar renewed and increased his exasperation.
Austin was shut up in prison on the 13th
of February, 1834, where he remained in close confinement for three
months, excluded from the use of books or writing-materials, or even the
light of day.
We will now turn our attention to the
state legislature and its proceedings. This body, having met on the
first of January, 1833, reaffirmed its recognition of Pedraza as
president of the republic; at the same time it declared that the state
would not support any agreement (convenio) tending directly or
indirectly to attack the federal form of government and the state
sovereignty. It further declared that it recognized as the will of the
nation only what was approved by a majority of the legislatures. It
shortly after proceeded to attack the right of petition, and declared
that any person or corporation, who assumed the voice of the people by
making any petition, usurped the rights of society, and excited
disorder. More than three persons were forbidden to join in a petition!
The entire law is an attack upon the liberties of freemen; but we must
see and know the people of Coahuila before we pronounce too strongly
against the legislature.
On the 9th of March following, the
legislature carried into effect its previously-expressed determination
to remove the seat of government to Monclova, and ordered the state
officers to appear at the latter place by the first of April. This
exasperated the people of Saltillo, and they were found ready to join
any party that might rise in opposition to the legislature. This feeling
was increased, on the meeting of that body, by the enactment of a decree
disbanding the civic force of thirty men at Saltillo which had been
supported by the state.
Among other things, the legislative body
repealed the law of the 9th of April, 1832, prohibiting persons not born
in the republic of Mexico from retailing goods in the state. This law
had given just cause of offence to the people of Texas, and its repeal
was due to their growing influence. To this influence may likewise be
assigned the law granting to Madero (a favorite with the Texans)
the exclusive right to navigate the Trinity.
Settlement of the Beales and Grant Colony in Texas
During the latter part of the year 1833
began the settlement of the colony of Beales and Grant. They had
obtained a con-cession for eight hundred families, to be located between
the Rio Grande and the Neuces. In the last days of December, about sixty
colonists, under Mr. Beales, reached the new settlement, and laid off
the town of Dolores, on Las Moras, a small stream about ten feet wide
and two feet deep. They remained there about a year, when they
dispersed. They were Europeans, and but poorly qualified for such an
enterprise. Kennedy—himself an Englishman—speaking of the failure of
this colony, says it supplied "further evidence of the superiority of
the Anglo-Americans in forming colonies. The North Americans are the
only people who, in defiance of all obstacles, have struck the roots of
civilization deep in the soil of Texas. Even as I trace these lines, I
reflect upon their progress with renewed wonder and admiration. They are
indeed the organized conquerors of the wild, uniting in themselves the
threefold attributes of husbandmen, lawgivers, and soldiers.
Santa Anna Becomes Dictator of Mexico: 1834
The year 1834 was occupied in Mexico in
changing the form of government from that of a republican confederation
of states to a purely national government, controlled by a single man,
without any other restraint than he might chose to place upon his own
actions. Farias met the complaints and petitions of the clergy and the
monarchists by banishment and the prison.
Santa
Anna, who had been watching the progress of things, now discovered
that the combined influence of the clergy, the army, and the
monarchists, would be sufficient to answer his purpose. He accordingly
came out from his retreat, and resumed his seat as president of the
nation. It was very soon ascertained that the Congress would not repeal
the obnoxious laws lately enacted; and that body, in consequence, became
very odious to the centralists. By the constitution of the republic,
Congress was required to close its sessions annually on the 15th day of
April, with liberty to continue its sittings thirty days longer (Sundays
and solemn festivals excepted), should they deem it necessary, or if the
president should require it. At the close of its regular session in
1834, Congress declared it necessary to sit thirty days longer. This
period would expire on the 14th of May following. It appears that, on
the day preceding, Santa Anna notified the members that, if they did not
disperse, he would use a military force to turn them out of their hall.
The Congress adjourned on the 14th, declaring that its rights had been
invaded by Santa Anna. The latter, however, immediately appealed, by a
proclamation, to the people, setting forth the alleged tyranny of the
vice-president Farias and the majority of the Congress.
The popularity of Santa Anna gave weight
to his address; and the consequence was a pronunciamento and
plan, drawn up at Cuernavaca, on the 25th of May. It proposed—first,
that the late laws against the church, and those for the banishment of
the monarchists, who had taken an active part against the federalists,
should be declared void; second, that the Congress should be dismissed,
and another convened with power to form a new constitution; and, third,
that Santa Anna should be sustained in carrying into execution the views
he had published. This plan was almost universally adopted; but, as it
required some time to go through a decent formality, and to elect a new
Congress, we will return to other events.
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Texas History:
Texas Legislative Actions:
1834] |