colonial settlements from the depredations of the Indian tribes; by laws excluding citizens of the United States of the north from admission into the country; by a refusal lo incorporate this province into the federal system, as provided by the constitution; and, finally, by the establishment of a central or consolidated Government, and the destruction of the constitution itself. Such are the reasons assigned by the old inlrnbilants with whom I have conversed, for the separation of this State from Mexico. The history of the events leading lo the revolution, as I find it in the public documents, is this: In 1824 a convention was held by representatives from all the provinces, and a federal system and constitution adopted, by which all Mexico became a republic. Texas al that time did not contain the required population lo become a State, but was provisionally united with the neighboring province of Coahuila, to form the State of Coahuila and Texas until the latter should possess the necessary clements lo form a separate State for herself. This law was understood and intended to guaranty Lo the latter a specific political existence, as soon as she should be in a condition to exercise it. In 1833, the inhabitants having ascertained that their numbers were equal to most, and exceeded several, of the old Stales, and that the resources of the country were such as to constitute the required elements for a State, they held a convention and formed a constitution upon the principles of that of the .Mexican republic. This was presented to the General Congress, with a petition to be admitted into the Union. The application was rejected, and the delegate imprisoned. In 1834, the constiLu tional Congress was dissolved by a military order of the President, Santa Anna, before the expiration of its appointed term, and in the following year a new Congress was assembled by virtue of another military order, which is said to have been "arislocratical, ecclesiastical, and central in its politics." Numerous applications were made by meetings of the citizens and by some of the Stale Legislatures Lo restore the constitution and Federal Government, and protests were presented against the subversion of the laws; but they were disregarded, and in many instances the au thors were pcrsccu led and imprisoned. The Central Government deposed the constitutional Vice President without trial; elected another in his place; united the
I !I
,, ,!
I
,/
286
Powered by FlippingBook