Our Catholic Heritage, Volume VI

Foreign Colonizatirm of Tezas, 1820~1835

207

endured the hardships of frontier life and revolution for years and had obtained little or no legal proof of rightful possession in the troublesome days of the stormy past, the threat of dispossession was tantamount to despoliation. 52 The old inhabitants immediately appealed to the Legislature. Claiming they were Mexicans who had served their country and defended its integrity, they protested being placed under the command of a foreigner whom they did not know and who wished to deprive them of their lands. Edwards, ignorant or unmindful of the protest, doggedly proceeded with the execution of his new policy. He collected from a number of settlers on the Trinity the first payment on the lands they occupied, and most unwisely denied the claim of a Mexican, Ignacio Sertuche, because he was unable to present a deed. He then granted Sertuche's league "lying half on each side of the Trinity and including the ferry" to Nathaniel Trammel, from whom he received $120.00 as first payment. 53 While indignation mounted among the old settlers, Edwards became involved in an election, a matter which was to make more difficult his position and bring about his undoing. An election was ordered in the Nacogdoches district, which included a vast territory stretching from the Neches to the Sabine. The candidates were Samuel Norris, an old resident and citizen of Nacogdoches, and Chichester Chaplin, a newcomer and son-in-law of Edwards. Most of the squatters on the border reserve voted for Chaplin, who claimed the election, took possession of the archives, and proceeded to exercise the duties of the office. Norris, backed unanimously by the old settlers, appealed to Political Chief Saucedo, protesting that the squatters were foreigners and had no right to vote. The old settlers took occasion to restate their accumulated grievances against Edwards. At the same time Edwards wrote to explain his side. He accused Luis Procela, the outgoing alcalde, and his friend, Jose Antonio Sepulveda, of causing all the trouble. Saucedo, no less human than the other parties involved, had been making up his mind about the East Texas empresario. He had begun 52 With the exception of Barker, all historians of Texas-<ontemporary with and subsequent to this incident, Mexican as well as American-have been unable to · present the facts impartially and objectively. It is not necessary, therefore, to list either group. See Barker, Life of Sle,Plw, F. Austin, Chapter VII, "The Fredonian Rebellion," 168-202. The remainder of the account given here is largely based on this masterly study of the Fredonian Rebellion, which was so far-reaching in its consequences. SlEdwards to Nathaniel Trammel, November 26, 1825, Nacogdo,1,n Artl,ives.

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