678
AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
confidence to a great degree, and the probability is that there will be no more convulsiones untill the next presidential election, which takes place in September 1832. How we shall get through that God knows, but we hope for the best- The candidates are not yet fairly before the public I expect however that .Alarnan, present Minister of state, Generals Teran, Bravo and Santana, will probably be of the num- ber The first never was a military man and is believed to be the most able statesman of the nation, the second the most scientific man that belongs to the army, the third is not much celebrated for common sence, and the last is a sort of Mad Cap difficult to cl11ss-- The two first and the present vice president Genl. Bustam11nte ba¥e befriended me, and protected my colony in many instances- They belong to that class of mexican politicians who wish to improve, populate and civilize the nation so far as they dare attempt it par- ticularly Alaman and Teran- It is quite doubtfull whether Busta- mante will be a canditate for reelection, some doubt his eligibility on the ground that the president cannot be reelected to a second term untill after an interval of 4 years-others say that he is only vice president and the disability therefore does not apply to him- There- is no doubt of his being a very amiable man in his private char11cter- The same may be said with truth of Alaman, and Teran In this colony matters are getting on very well. The intention.:; of the Govt. as to the colonies established by me are clearly developed and publically manifested-that is to afford them every aid and protection posible The principles which have uniformly governed me since I beg&n colonizing in this country in 1821 are so different from those which appear to have influenced others who have attempted colonization in Texas that neither this colony, nor myself ought to be confounded with the others- My object, the sole and only desire of my am- bition since I first saw Texas, was to redeem it from the wilder- ness-to settle it with an intelliO'ent honorable and interprising 0 people. To make a fortune, a great pecuniary speculation for my- ~elf, was and always has been and now is a secondary consideration with me, When I left my native Govt. a~d became a citizen of this I considerd that all and every kind of political obligation cen~ed ~s to the first, and became fully as binding as to the second, as H this had been my native country. More than this, I considerd that the liberality and confidence with which this Govt. treated the emigrants who came here in good fnith, and who conducted themselves with any thing like ordinary d~cen:y or common sence, imposed a moral obligation on them to give m return, at least common gratitude- in short my mottoes hal""e been- The redemption of Tex(L8 f'rom the wilderness, Fidelity an.d
Powered by FlippingBook