WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1851
269
migrated, and settled there; war ensued, after their first settle- ment, with the Indians. The Indians could subdue the Mexicans, or, if they permitted them to remain, they were subsidiary to their savage wants; they were not capable o.f clearing the forest, and reducing it to cultivation and the arts of civilized man, but were clustered in little villages for security. Such a thing as an extension of the neighborhood ·was not known in all the domain of Texas; it was literally surrendered to wild beasts and savage men. The conflicts which ensued terminated favorably to the Americans, and they eventually triumphed over the Indians, and obtained peace. Austin was the man whose policy directed all this; he was the man who prospered and cherished every interest of his colony, and gave it a consistency that no other man could have clone, thereby becoming its father. After this, other families gathered around the nucleus which he had planted and formed, extending the area of civilization and Anglo-Amer- ican influence. Time rolled on; population accumulated, and Mexico had no apprehensions then. As long as the American race were inoffensive; and contributed to the respectability and security of Mexico, so long were they cherished by promises, so long was every seductive blandishment thrown around by a paternal government. They were fostered as children; but how long did that last? The first grant had been the adoption of a Federal Constitution established in Mexico; and on going into the country, they were required to take a solemn oath to support this constitution. All the Americans swore to support this constitu- tion. And how did they redeem their pledge? It was as free in all its features as that of the country from which they had migrated; and they had everything to anticipate that was de- lightful. A soil fertile and productive, embracing almost every variety of climate, capable of producing every production neces- sary to the wants of man or even to his elegancies and luxuries. There is nothing but what nature's God seems to have blessed that country with, in its resources; all it wants is development, capital, enterprise, and industry, and jt will be the storehouse of luxury, as well as for supplying the most necessary wants of man. ·we have our cotton fields, our sugar plantations, and our mulberry trees to produce the choicest silks. No climate can be more genial; everything that man could desire is there; with scenery variegated and beautiful beyond description. It must be only a poet who soars in the upper regions of fancy, or a madman, that would attempt its description. I need not.
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