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AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
dred-in the 3 4 company out of about 140 men 44 votes were taken, in the 4th company out of 106 men 14 votes were tnken,-it was considered a matter of no consequence altho, those who are now elected are to be commissioned by the Governor and unless they re- sign or are broke are officers for life and rise by regular promotion as vacancies occur to the highest rank in the Regiment- It is con- sidered a matter of no importance to elect nn Alcalde to administer justice, an Ayuntamiento to manage our civil matters, and officers to lead us into battle-notices for elections are treated with indif- ference and contempt, and in this way the best and dearest interests of the Community are wantonly sported with, nncl are as likely to fall into the hands of a fugitive vagabond or nn ignorant fool as into those of an honest or intelligent man- A community that tramples on so sacred a privilege as the elective franchise deserves to suffer, and sooner or later it will suffer- But if a ta]king, inflam- itory and artfull demagogue opens his mouth, all is attention, these same officers whose election was of no consequence are suspected, watched, and often [abused~] and cursed and condemned by the awful ... 1 ion without investi[gation] . . . This inconsistency . . . [This is a very seri nous situation, there is a general [spirit of cav-n iling that will lead to ruin if.it is not checked- The people must repose confidence in some one, and believe that there is some hon- esty in the world, or they are lost-their own wild passions will destroy them If they will have confidence in me a.nd apply to me to explain what they do not understand, I will attend to their requests-their enquiries shall all be answered so far as I can answer them The laws cannot be published in print so that every man will have a copy of them, and there ·is no other way but for the people to come and read the manuscript translations that are in the office, or to have confidence in some one- I nm bold to say that I have done nothing to forfeit the confidence of the people of this Colony- and yet I have no doubt but that I should be abused if I was Alcalde as much as any body else I hope you will all be satisfied as· to the reports which I have noticed and that there will be no more excitement on that ground- and I also hope that in futlire the people will enquire before they judge or condemn- [STEPHEN F. AusTIN.] I have written in haste and expressed my feelings frankly-I am uneasy and concerned to see so much unnessery exictement. Would it ,not have been better to have ascertained the truth of all these ·' s The missing words were clipped out with Austin's signature which was on the back ot the 1ame ■beet. • •
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