might lrn rt:ilet>mc,I f1,m1 a ~!ate of nalun·; 1hat ti:,~ 1,l;~;:wle,; 1 1, n first sc11lemcnt mi;ht be overcome; drnt they might he riil of those sav;igcs \\"ho continually depredate<l upon 1ht• inhabited pnrts of the n:11io11, :rnd that they might Le placed in n si:uation to nugment the pl:y ,ieal strcngih and po\\"e:· am\ rc~·c:iuc of the republic. Is it not evident that Mexico now liulils on~r the colonize<l lands of Texas, thf' same jm hcliction nnd ri;;ht of property which all nations holcl over the inhahitr.d parts of their territory: But 10 do a\\ay more r.ffoctua:Jy 11:e i1.hia that the col- onists of Texa- an• under great obli;;a:io11;; to th~ !\lexican 1:,ov- ermnent fr their clona1io1:~ of lnnd, let 11s ex:::minP. al \Ybar price the gorernmant cstimate<l the lands given. Twdve or thirteen years ago, they ;:we to a colonist one league of Jami for c:oming, he paying the gove111111ent $30, anil this year ( I S35) they lia\ c sold hundreds of leagues of Janel for $50 euch. · So tliat it ap- pears that the gm•ermnent really ga\'c us what in their estimation wns worth $20. A true stntemcnt of facts tlien is all tiint is ne- cessary to pay al once that immense debt of endless gratitude which, in the estimation of the iguurnnl and interested is due from the col0nisls lo 1he gm·ernmenl. I pass over the toil and suffer- ing and danger which allen<led the the rcdemptiou and cultivaticn of their lands hy the colonists, ancl turn to their ci\'il condition and to the con:luct and liis1ory of the gm·ernment. It is n max- im no less \'encrnble for its antiquity than its truth-a maxim ad- mitted anrl illustrated by all writers on political economy-nnd o:ie that has been corrobora!ed by c>xperience in every corner cf the c:irlh, that miserable is the scn·itude and horrible t'. c condi- tion of that people who5e laws arc either uncertain or unknown. I ask; with a defiance of ron!radiction, if ours is not and has not always been, in Texas, the unhnppy condition and n:iscrnble bon- dage spoken of :1• tl,is maxim? Who of us knows or can by possi- bility arri\·e al a knowle<lge of the laws that govern cur property nncl lives? Who of us is able to read and un<lerstantl and be entire· ly confident of the ralidity of his title to tbe land hP. )iyes on, anJ which he has redeemed from a state of 11n!ure by the most indefat- igable indumy ancl perseverance? ·who knows whether he hns paid on his land all that government exacts, or whether he has not paid ten times as much? Look al tlie·mere mockery of all la IV and justice which has always prevailed in place of an able and learned
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