148
THE AUSTIN PAPERS
affairs of Texas by military power, regardless of the Constitution, of the civil authority, and of all the legally vested, equitable, and natural rights of the people of Texas. That such is the real and ultimate object of the military power no,v reigning in Mexico, and that the reasons assigned for the pr~sent. hostile movements are nothing but mere pretexts to cover the main objects, and thus fill the country with troops, is clear and evident; but should there still remain doubts on the mind of any person, let him ,veigh and maturely con• sider the following facts, and draw his own conclusions. The Constitutional Governor of the State, Viesca, and also another gov- ernor, Falcon, who had been constitutionally installed lo succeed Viesca, have been deposed by the military at Monclova. The state authorities w~re imprisoned, and a governor appointed by the acting president of the gen- eral government of Mexico. This is evidently an act of military usurpa- tion and despotism, and the state of Coahuila and Texas is at this time without any constitutional or legal government at all, and the people of- •every part of the state, and those of Texas in particular, are left al full liberty to provide for themselves as they may deem best. But a more general, though succinct view of matters, is necessary for a full and proper understanding of this subject. A disastrous and ruinous civil war was kindled in 1832, by means of an insurrection against the Bustamante administration, and general Santa Anna. was placed at its head. The avowed object of this insurrection was to protect the federal system, and sustain the Constitution of 1824., which, it was then alleged, was attacked and endangered by the measures and pro- jects of the·Bustamante administration. On this principle the people of Texas supported general Santa Ana to defend the Constitution of 1824, and the federal system. This general was enthusiastically supported by every liberal and free Mexican, and by the friends of the federal system in every part of the nation. With this support he triumphed. He became the man of the people-the protector of the federal system-the oracle·of • public opinion-the arbiter of the nation's political destinies. How has he used this power, thus acquired? Let the military despotism now en- throned in Mexico upon the ruins of the federal system-let the friends of this system, who are now groaning in prisons or wandering i~ exile-let the Constitution of 1824, which still raises its dying voice from beneath the feet of military usurpation-let the free and impartial in Mexico apd in the whole civilized world give the reply. They all say, he used it fo destroy what he avowed he had .taken .up arms to protect; he used the federal party as blind instruments to destroy the federal system; he aban- doned his federal friends who had given him power, and united with the military, ecclesiastical and central party, against whom he took up arms
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