granted, and Austin started home in December, 1833. He was arrested at Saltillo and taken back to the capital. The immediate occasion of his arrest was an imprudent letter that he wrote to the ayuntamiento of San Antonio, advising it to head a movement for provisional organization of a state without waiting for the authorization of the government. No definite charge was made against him and he never came to tr~al, but he was kept in more or less rigorous confinement in various prisons from February 13 until December 25, 1835. The first three letters in this volume describe his experience during these trying months. On Christmas day, 1835, he was set at large under bond not to leave the federal district. His final release, in July, 1835, came as the result of a general political amnesty law. While waiting for the passage of this law Austin busied himself with the affairs of Texas. He published his Exposicion al Publico sobre los Asuntos de Tejas, which was designed to convince the authorities of the continued loyalty of Texas, and to some extent had that effect; and he dev~loped a plan for the opening of a government road through Texas lo Chihuahua. This road had for its immediate object the diversion of the Santa Fe-North Mexican trade from St. Louis and Independence, Mis- souri, to Texas; and for its ultimate object it probably had in view the establishment of indissoluble economic ties between Texas and the North Mexican States. There is evidence in Austin's correspondence during his last six months in Mexico that he then abandoned hope of permanent union of Texas with Mexico. He did not know when the breach would come; he wanted it to be delayed until it could be effected with little risk to Texas. It came much sooner than he expected or desired. On his arri;al in Texas at the beginning of September-he had paid a·flying visit to New Orleans after leaving Mexico-he found that the colonists had already called a Consul- tation to define the attitude of Texas toward the "reforms" that Santa Anna was effecting in the federal constitution. Austin threw himself into the task of making the Consultation thoroughly representative. Before the Consultation met, however, war had begun. Austin was called to command the volunteers, and laid siege to San Antonio. His management of the volunteer force during October and November, 1835, has been characterized by a competent student of military history as "a military marvel." From the command of the army Austin was summoned by the provisional gov- ernment which had been established to undertake, with William H. Wharton and Branch T. Archer, a mission to the United States. He was in the United States from January to June, 1836, stimulating sympathy and lllpport for the Texans and trying to obtain from the government of the United States recognition of the independence of Texas. He and his associates were unsuccessful in winning recognition-mainly because of
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