818
AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
MEXIA TO JOHN AUSTIN l
[Translation, by Austin, of Col. Mexias letter to the Alcalde John Austin letter and reply) I have the honor to enclose you a copy of the convention entered into between the Commandant in chief of :Matamoros and myself on the 6 of the present month. This document will inform you of the motives which brought me to Texas, and what would have been my course had the late movements here been directed against the integrity of the national territory. But if, as I have been assured by respectable citizens, the past occurrances were on account of the colonists having adhered to the plan of vera Cruz, and I am officially informed of that fact in an unequivocal manner, you can in that case assure the inhabitants that I will unite with them to accomplish their wishes, and that the forces under my command will protect their adhesion to said place. This occasion affords me the opport'unity of presenting to you the assurances of my consideration and respect- God and Liberty off the mouth of the Brazos river on board the brig of war Genl Santana. Jose Antonio Mexia. To Citizen John Austin Alcalde [of Brazoria] 16 July 1832-
JOHN AUSTIN TO l\fExrA [Answer of the Alcalde John Austin to the foregoing official letter]
I have recd. your official letter dated 16 of the present month, and in reply have the honor to inform you that a committee appointed by the inhabitants of theis town will present to you copies of the nets and resolutions heretofore adopted and the documents as to the past occurrances, which will explain to you the principles that have gov- erned us up to this time-. These documents contain our true senti- ments, and will serve as an answer to your official letter to me dated the 16 of this month The enemies of Texas, the·enemies of the enterprising men who have devoted their time and labor to improve a country that was never before trod by civilised man, have taken pains, and are con- tinually doing it, to attribute to us a disposition to separate from the Mexican confederation- ,ve have never entertaind, and have • For 11. detailed study of Mexla's expetlitlon to Texas see F. H. Tumer, "The :UeJlo. Expedition,'' in Quarterly of Texns State Historical As!locio.tlon, VII, 1-27. For the actt of Bradburn at Anahuac, which preclpltatl'd the uprisings ot 1832 In Texn.s, see E'd?a 11,owe lll Ibid., VI, 266-299. For n. i:enernl account ot the period, sec Darker, The J:,if~ of Stephen F . .A.uatm, chapter XII.
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