40i
THE AUSTIN PAPERS
war ended as speedily as possible, to avert farther evils from this people, and I also wish to see Texas annexed to the U. S. as I believe that to be the most effectual and speedy mode of procuring for its inhabitants that security and stability in civil Gov. which alone can compensate them for their past sufferings therefore have no hesitation in saying to you and to every one else, that I wish for th_e intervention of the U. S. Govt. in the affairs of Texas-that I have endeavor'd to procure its intervention, and that this was my only object in advising Gen. Santa Anna to apply to Gen. Jackson, and my only object in writing to him and to You on the 4th instant. Rumor and excited passions or political Slander have accused me o( a desire to save the life of Gen. Santa Anna in violation of justice which demands his execution as a murderer- I have had no hand in saving him and he was saved by the armistice entered into by Gen. Sam Houston on the 22d April, and by the Cabinet of Texas afterwards- I have no undue sympathy for Santa Anna- My sympathies are all for Texas and her inhabitants, and if Santa Anna can be used to end the war, I am willing to use him on the principle of public good, and more especially after he was saved and treated with on the field of battle and received as a prisoner of war and treated as such by the Civil and military authorities of the coun- try. But I am not willing to turn him loose without previous, and ample, and sufficient, and unquestionable guarante~s- The only one of this character that I can see, is the guarantee of the U. S. and I h~ve endeavored (so far as I have had anything to do with this matter) to use Gen. Santa for the purpose of obtaining it Many here have objected that in my letter to Gen. Jackson and to you of 4 instant, I stated that I believed Santa Anna was sincere in his promises to end the war and acknowledge our independence-- The object of those letters was to procure the guarantee of the U. S. and it would have been a St[r]ange thing in me, to have said to Gen. Jackson, and, to you, that I did not believe in Santa Anna's promises, and at the same time Asked you to Guarantee them- I consider it quite immaterial whether he is sincere or not, if through his promises the guarantee of the U. S. can be obtained, for that very guarantee would make him secure by compelling him, to comply, as he well knows-- I consider that there is but one doubt or difficulty about this matter, which is whether Santa Anna's power and influence in Mexico would be sufficient to enable him to procure ari acknowledgment of the independence _of Texas- This doubt I think is well founded, and that it can only be removed by some official act of the Govt. of Mexico that would be binding on the nation, such an official act I thought might be procured through the mediation of the U. S. while Santa Anna's friends and party were still in
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