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(1561
[ANAHUAC PETITION J
Department of Naeol!doches Jurisdidion of Liberty. Tu l·li5 Excellencv the Gowrnor of the frel' Slate of The people of this Jurisrlidion having this day convened in the town of Anahuac to consider the public wt•llfare have taken into consideration the mode of collection clulies and executing the rrvem1e laws in these colonies, and conveiving themseln:s most griernusly oppressed, do mosl respectfully represent: Thal for several years past no duties have Leen demanded Coahuiln and Texas: in any part of these colonies, and e\'en now none are demanded at any porl but that of Galveston; that this Jurisdiction is the pooresl and least improved of any in all Texas; that though any part of these colonies arc loo poor lo pay the regular duties according lo the :\lcxican Tariff, this is the least able of any; that notwithstanding this, some three months since one Martin de Alegria arrived al this place, accompanied hy a small party of soldiers, and represented himself as an officer of the Government appointed to collect duties al this place, and since thal time he has endeavored lo enforce the revenue laws in their fullest rigour; that ahout the same lime one Don Jose Gonzalez arrived at Velasco, representing and signing himself as the Collector of the ports of GalYcslon, and demanded the tonnage duties only, declaring that he had no orders lo collect more: that neither of these officers has in his possession any treaty of commerce hetween this Republic and the Uniter! Stales of the North; that neither of them has taken the proper steps lo inform the Ayunlamiento of the Jurisdiction of the nature and extent of his offices; that none of the authorities of the department have heen notified hy the Government of the appointment of any such officers; that a few days since Don Jose Gunzalez arrived al this place (Anahuac) and pretending to have n~ccivcd fresh orders, pursues the same course of exactions formerly purstwd by the above mentioned Don Martin de Alegria, demanding rluti1~s on all importations acc:ording to the lell1~r of the law: that the people of this Jurisdiction arc very much discontented at lites proceedings,· and that though they have
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