PAPERS OF. IIRABEAU Buo APARTE LAMAR. 187 but if the aggressor does not become penitent and and reclaim him- self in a ~atisfactory manner, if he remain incorrigible, the law will finally grant a divorce, a vinonlo matrimoni. In the mean time it will be seen, that the injured and innocent party sustain thems.elves provisionally, from both abuse of person and waste of property; not by remaining inactive, and acquiescing, and submitting to further insult and injury? But by timely petitioning the proper authority, whose duty it is to afford the wanted protection. ow for a moment compare the political union of the t,vo provinces, on the same prin- ciple, and suffer reason and justice to be exercised, and I make no doubt, you will ee plainly the duty and interest cf Texas, under the present exigency. In•the first place, what had Coahuila to rec'om- mend her to Texas to form a union f I answer nothing but the recommendation and wish of the mutual parent of both, for political purposes, believing that such a union would naturally produce an assimilation of sentiments, manners and custom , and as such, promote the great ends of true Republicanism. She brought no capital, or dotal effects, that ever has. or ever will be applied to t11C promotion of Texas interests. Ras she ever expended anything towards her protection or her government 1 The answer must be, not one dollar? Whi~.t advantage then has she· or will she ever be to TexasY The answer must be, none. But on the contrary a heavy burthen? Texas brought into the community a large extent of domain, of wild and fertile lands, which have been reclaimed from the lawless savages of the wilderness, by her ~nterprising citizens; who had to sustain themselves alone by their own exertions. This constitutes her dotal property, which she brought into the community and which she has a right to protect from waste. It is a fact well known, that Coahnila has ·.committed great waste en the domain of Texas, by selling large portions of her lands, for the one thousanth part of their real value, and has evinced a disposition and deter- mination on her part, to dispose of, and waste the whole of them. . And for what purpose¥ Is it for the mutual benefit of the com- munity ?-The answer must be, no I but to waste and spend at home. to answer their own purposes, and to squander in mob governments. -It is, how~ver, said by many that we have no right to murmur, or say a word. that the government has given us land· in abundance, and that we should remain quiet under all circumstances? Let such persons recollect,' that we are now l\Iexican citizens, entitled ti) lqual privileges: and that the same government, and nature itself, have' guaranteed to us the inestimable right, of -protecting these Janel,; and makin~ them valuable to onrslev and to our posterity. Without this, their donation would be a curse. . Some there are who ay that Texas is not capable, or able, to sus- tain herself in a separate Government; that she lacks numbers, talent, and finally means. I can with propriety, say to snch; that she has so far been self governed; and a great part of the expendi- tures of the whole state, have been, in one way, or other, drawn from her reso;itrces. Her inhabitants are rated at forty thousand-and whether that be under, or over, a fair estimate,-that no section of the civilized world comprising her own numbers; can produce more
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