Foreign Colonization of Texas, r820-r835
183
this opportune time that the James Long expedition was being widely advertised. The effect, naturally, was to focus attention upon Texas and to give no little impetus to colonization. The Long circular made capital of the advantages of settling in Texas by laying particular emphasis on liberal land grants. The propaganda resorted to vigorous flag-waving: appealing to the spirit of patriotism, giving to the enter- prise the character of a crusade to save Texas from Spain, into whose lap it had been dropped by ignorant or irresponsible officials in Washington. 12 Renewal of Spanisli efforts to settle Texas. Realizing that the best means of saving Texas for the King was to settle it with loyal subjects, Governor Martinez continually urged this measure as essential to the preservation of His Majesty's dominions. The Governor pointed out that a scant two thousand inhabitants in the entire province remained, including those living in the four missions still in operation. In despera- tion he proposed a resettlement by Tlaxcalteca Indians from Saltillo. The restoration of the missions to their former prosperity, he concluded, would help restrain hostile Indians and encourage civilian settlers to come to the province.u Plan of Juan Ant<mio Padilla. In his report on the Indians of Texas, who had again become quite troublesome in the lower Rio Grande Valley, Antonio Padilla, destined to become land com~issioner and to help establish many Anglo-American settlers in the near future, ventured some suggestions. He pointed out that the fallow fields of the San Antonio missions might be converted into sites for new and prosperous settlements. The resultant increase in population would, he maintained, revitalize San Antonio. The new settlers would soon be able to furnish all the food necessary for the garrisons in Texas. A great saving to the royal treasury would result. The settlers and the troops would be . mutually dependent and would unite in effectively controlling the hostile Indians and resisting foreign aggression. Padilla, like Martinez, believed that families from the adjacent provinces might be induced to move to the mission lands near Bexar if they were offered seed, implements, work animals, and subsistence for a year. 14 TJ,e ,proposed Swiss and German coumy. At about this time a group of Swiss merchants in Philadelphia approached Ambassador Onis to
12 See "The Long Expedition" in the preceding chapter. UMartinez to the Viceroy, June 21, 1819, Nacogdocltes A,-cltivu. 14 Hatcher, "Texas in I 820," Qua,-/e,-l,y, XXII, 60.
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