218
TEX.\S
T.\TE LJBRARY
could get back the money I have paid would be very willing to have- the land returned to the source from whence it sprung. It has been rumored that bribery had been used with the legi la- ture for governor or with both for the purpose of obtaining the con- tracts for land, this is not the fact. I speak for my elf and do most solemnly assure you, that the report is unfounded eYen in the lightest shade, for on my part not even an attempt was made, nor·an indication offered to any per on, either with respect to the purcha. e of land or on account of any business I had with the Government of the State, separately or collectively. I hope and trust that the people of Texas will do me the justice at least to believe that I had not, nor could not have had an int<'n- tion of jeopardizing their interests with the General Government. for from everything that had preceded, more e pecially the sale of 400 lc•agues of land the year before no uch conclusions coulrl be de,lneed becau e tl1at dii:;position of land had pas ed without any notic<' what- ever from the Government and very few remarks were made by the people of Texas, so far as came to my knowledge. I therefore conld not have had any intention of braving public opinion of Texas: for in a transaction of equal or g-reater magnitude and exactly of the same natnre, no excitement had been created, and the pnrchai:er was, and till is a citizen of another government. To conclude I have to assure the people. of Texas that I eek no changes, no innovation for a11y pnrpos s. pri\'ate or r>olitiral. nor- am I di posed to oppose any government which the majority may adopt, all I ask is a fair and impartial hearing and a deci ion free from excitement; and if the land purchase or monopoly is an ob- stacle to prevent a happy adjustment of any misunderstanding hf- tween Texas and General Government, I promii:;e as one not to he backward in an endeavor to remove all such ohstarle, and in that particular as in every thing else am I willing to ahide by the law<: of the nation to which we beloni:r: -con. eou('ntlv if T have offended any law, by that and the constit11tim, P.,.,, l willinr, t" h" i11dged. SAMUEL U. WILLIAMS. July 20, 1835. •o. 209 1835 J·1.1ly 25, JAl\fES H. C. MILLER, SA1J FF.LTPE [DE AUST! r, TEXAS] TO JOH r W. S IITif. f AN AX- TONIO DE] BEXAR, [TEA A 1·~ The rout of the war and speculating parties; advi ing orders for the arrest of John on, Travis, William , and Zavala; Travis's trouble ; ..,Printed In Wooten, D. G., A Comprehensive HistOTU of Texas, I, 170; Brown, J. H., Histor11 of Texas, I. 303; and The Quarterly of the Texas State Ilfstorical A sociation, XIII, 147. In both of the first two printings one Irrelevant sentence Is omitted. A footnote In the last charges Brown with Inaccuracy In quoting the letter. Another manuscript copy, certified by And- rew Ponton, alcalde or Gonzales, 111 In lhe Texas At·chives, "Domestt,. Cor- respondence." All or the printings of the letter have been checked with It and the Lamar copy, with the result that the onlv serious error Is found In the Quarter111. The sentence there beglnnlng "Williamson, Johnson, and Baker are now on a visit to him ... " ehould give Williams' name, not \Vllllamson's.
Powered by FlippingBook