840
AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
am well aware, that the enemies of Texas and her prosperity, will attribute to them, -intentions against the integrity of the Mexican Territory. This allegation has been necessary and very .useful in- deed, to deceive the Mexicans, and justify.certain measures taken by the General Government in Texas, since the year 1830. There..has never been, and there is no foundation in truth for such an allega- tion, nor is there any foundation to be found in reason or the nature of conditions, for it neither is nor can be the interest of Texas to secede from Mexico, even if there were no obstacles to this course. I can assure to your Lordship, that if the ties that unite Texas to the Federacy;-are ever broken asunder, the stroke shall come from the Government itsel£, and not from -the people of Texas. These inhabitants have with their toil and labor redeemed the_Country from a state of wilderness, without one dollar of expense to the Nation, and they expect in return to be governed agreeably to the spirit of the Constitution and Federal system and in •a manner adequate to the necessities of the Country, and their own interest. The object of the republican institutions adopted by Mexico, is to secure the happiness and prosperity of the people, and to proviae for common defense. Can this object be obtained in ·Texas, by following the restrictive system adopted since the year 1830 ¥ Is it possible to provide for common defense, by weakening the whole northern frontier, with obstacles opposed to immigration, thus leav- ing it exposed to the incursions of the Indians, instead of promoting an increase of civilized population so as to inhance the. physical strength and resources of the Nation? Man seeks hapiness in the improvement of his condition-this is a natural and invariable law-a law that will bind Texas to Mexico with stronger ties, than the force of large armies. With a due regard to this law, and the true spirit of the system of govern- ment that rules the Nation, no one would harbor in his bosom, a sus- picion that Texas will ever attempt to secede: Let on the contrary measures be taken for an increase of its population, so as to qualify it to be admitted as one of the Statets of the Mexican Union, and this step will be as favorable to Coahuila, as to the whole Nation, because the whole northern frontier of the Republic would be pro- tected and the effective strength of the Nation considerably increased. I believe that these people will not recede from their "pronnncia- miento ", now that they have made that step under the dictate of reason and principle: They are firmly convinced that the Constitu- tion and the most sacred rights of the people have been violated since the citizen who, in the election of September 1828, obtained a constitutional majority of .the votes for the Presidency, was forci- bly expelled from the chair and country: They understood that the. present effort is to do,. in good faith what was promised, by the
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