THE AUSTIN PAPERS 1029 I understand that I am arrested for having written that letter of October to the ayuntamientos, and that the governor of the state is my accuser, but I do not know certainly whether this is true or not. All that I have done in this matter has been public and without concealment. I wrote to the ayuntamientos officially, and not con- fidentiaUy or privately. I did not leave Mexico until December 10, more than two months after writinCT the letter. I took leave of 0 the Minister, of the Vice President, and of my friends; travelled in a, conch with Deputy Don Luis de la Rosa as far as Lagos; and thence by San Luis Potosi to Saltillo, presenting myself at the moment of my arrival ·there to the Commandant General. I had started by the most direct 1·oad to Monclova to see if it was possible to obtnin some laws for Texas in conformity with the recommenda- tions of the general go"'ernment on the subject. I believe that if I had been able to reach :Monclova during the session of the legisla- ture, as I desired, it would have been possible to regulate the affairs of Texas upon a basis satisfactory to Texas, to the state, and to the general government. It would have been very easy to go to Vera Cruz and embark for Orleans, if I had thought that I had com- mitted a crime that deserved punishment. The truth is that the hope of nccomplishin O' some O'OOd for the contentment of Texas caused O b me to go by land althotwh the trip is much more severe than a I . b voyage to Europe. In so far as there may be crime in having labored thirteen years, spending a life of weariness, in peopling the wilderness of Texas; in having spent my time and my money in n. journey to Mexico to obtain relief from the evils which afllict Texas and threaten its ruin and even its separation from Mexico; in measures to save that coun- try from a violent revol'ution • in havinO' assisted in establishing the ' 0 • f foundations for the prosperity and security of the frontiers o Coahuila. Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipns nnd the advancement of those , ' states in population, industry, nnd agriculture-in so far as there may be crime in all this, I am a great criminal. '\Vithont population in Texas the frontiers of the Eastern In- terior Provinces are worse than nothinu, for they are an abandoned field where the Indians may'rob, kill, a;d destroy to suit their fancy, without protection for the wretched people. It would be an eno_r- mous expense to maintain garrisons and troops enough to restriun the Indians even in a small deO'ree in deserts so vast. I have been accused of havi~g magnificent schemes for Texas, ao d I confess that I have had them. . . My friend I am a :Mexican citizen, and as such I shall speak mtb entire frank~ess: To suppose that th~ Mexican nation in its present
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