786
AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
merce or the Brazos river was high[ly] vexatious-one fixing the custom house at Anahuac, instead [of Galv]eston· where the law really placed it-also the 20th article of that decree which sub- jected vessells then in the river to its vexatious restrictions was retroactive and illegal from the face of it-a vessell may have been i-ix months in the river, with cargo all distributed over the country and sold six months before the custom house [was] established, and still by that arti[cle it] could not have gone to sea untill [the] master owners etc [wen]t to An[ahua]c and presented manifests, and paid the duties which were not due nor collectable when the vessell came in and discharged. The whole thing in [fact] evi- dently.carried upon its face an intention [to irri]tate and to [make difficulty it] must have been supposed that it [would cause?] dif- ficulty. The nation was then at peace its phisical f[orce the]n was not para[ly]sed by internal wars, nor by the fear of external inva- tion and the whole power of the republic would have been brought to bear upon Texas. Al[so a]t that time the press [of] Mexico was muzzled. There was no liberal party, no opposition to raise its voice in favor of justice, and the prejudices of the mass of the people were against all foreigners-we should have appealed to justice in vain. I believed we would be attacked. [I] have since been most posi- tively assured that there was no such intention-be it so but that does not change the mat[ter] as to us in Texas-situated as we then were for anyone who had an eye to p[erceive?] ever [woul]d believe that there w[as no such?] intention. In this state of things, [situ]- ated as I was with reference to the colony and to public opinion both at home and abroad so far as anything was [know]n of me, it was my duty to prepare for the general defense. So far as I c[oul]d, I acted [on this principle?] until th[e arrival of the] mail which came in at that time brought the news of [Sant]anas affair at Vera Cruz. I also had some other information of a peculiar nature which had its influence with me. I [be]came convinced that Texas cQuld not be attacked by the Govt. for the want of [phy]sical force to do it, and also because the influence of liberal principles was gaining ground too fast in Mexico, to give the administration any time to work an unjust attack upon anyone. So soon as I was [convince]d of this, the necessity for preparations [at on]ce ceased, nnd ~hen :tgreeably [to the] rule before stated all further [prep]arnbons would have been impro[per im]politic and even highly [immod]al for we ought not in any case to [act o]n the offensive. B[ut] much had [bee]n said-something had been done-and much had been written-to [un]say, undo, and un1.o-rite all this was awkwa:d nnd embarrassing, for at a superficial view it looked like incons1sten?y • • • I did not [hesitate to set 1] to work undoi,ng • • • m
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