The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 8, July 1904 - April, 1905 Page: 139
xiii, 358 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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De Witt's Colony.
take no part in the convulsion caused by the pronunciamento in
favor of the plan of General Santa Anna.1
Naturally enough this feeling of suspicion transferred itself to
the Anglo-American colonists. Throughout the early period of
colonization it was held in check by the prudent conduct of Stephen
F. Austin and others among the first settlers. But now that im-
migrants had come in large numbers it was not to be expected
that all of them would exert themselves as Austin had done to
preserve harmony with Mexico. The Fredonian rebellion served
to remind the Mexicans of the long-standing jealousy of their
race toward Anglo-Ameicans, of their grounds for fear of the
United States, and of the possibilities that were developing with
the growth of the colonies themselves. Therefore when they ob-
served the discrimination that was made by the Indians between
the Americans and the Mexicans they easily imagined that the
colonists were responsible.2
The result was that Mexico now began a policy by means of
which she hoped in an indirect and inconspicuous way to substi-
tute in the future Mexican for Anglo-American occupation of
Texas. In 1824 Mexico's generosity toward the colonists was un-
bounded save by one reservation. Article 7 of the federal colo-
nization law declared that until after the year 1840 the general
congress was not to prohibit the entrance of individuals of any
nation unless imperious circumstances should require it. By and
1 Brown, History of Texas, I 225-226.
'Garrison, Texas, 170-171.
The injustice of such a suspicion is no better illustrated than by the
following words of Austin addressed to the Cherokees in Texas during
the Fredonian rebellion: "My brothers, why is it that you wish to fight
your old friends and brothers the Americans? God forbid that we should
ever shed each other's blood. * * * The Americans of this colony,
the Guadalupe and Trinity, are all united to a man in favor of the Mexi-
can government, and will fight to defend it. We will fight those foolish
men who have raised the flag at Nacogdoches; we will fight any people
on earth who are opposed to the Mexican government * * *. The bad
men, who have been trying to mislead you, have told you that we would
all join you. This is not true * * *. Those bad men have told you
that Americans would come on from the United States and join them.
This is not true * ' *. The American government will not permit
such a thing, and, if this government asks it, will send troops to aid us.
"Why do you wish to fight the Mexicans? They have done you no
wrong; you have lived in peace and quietness in their territory, and the
government have never refused to comply with their promises, provided
you do your duty as good men. What, then, is it you ask for, or what
do you expect to gain by war?" (A Comprehensive History of Texas, I
531).139
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 8, July 1904 - April, 1905, periodical, 1905; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101033/m1/141/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.