The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 9, July 1905 - April, 1906 Page: 9
ix, 294 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Diplomatic Relations of England and Republic of Texas. 9
ditions, and would have been successful but for the reason given.
He claimed also that under the Texas land laws the courts were
unable to entertain a suit brought by him to recover the grants.
In September, 1842, the claims of Cotesworth and Pryor, George
O'Gorman, and D. E. Egerton, similar to that of Beales, were sub-
mitted to the Texas government. Some correspondence on the
subject of these various claims followed, in which the Texas gov-
ernment denied that the courts were not open for the claimants
to obtain redress in the ordinary way. Some discussion arose also
as to the reservation in the original grants of the power to revoke
them at the pleasure of the grantor. The claims at best had no
more than an equitable standing, and they were not favorably
looked upon by the Texas government because of the long period
that was allowed to elapse before they were presented to the gov-
ernment, and because no record of the grants was to be found in
the Texas land office. Indeed the British charge d'affaires prose-
cuted the claims in a rather lukewarm manner, and finally ad-
mitted in October, 1843, that the evidence upon which they were
based was insufficient, and that he did not think the British gov-
ernment would wish the Beales claim, at any rate, to be pushed
until it was better substantiated. Since the subject does not arise
again in the diplomatic correspondence of the Republic, the claims
must have been dropped at this point. As the Texas government
pointed out, though the claims were for very large tracts of land,
the grants upon which they were based would all have expired
under their own terms shortly after the outbreaks of the revolu-
tion, if not before, so that the losses sustained by the claimants
as a result of the forfeitures must have been insignificant, if they
existed at all.1
(8) Claims for British negroes held in Texas.-Early in 1840
Commander Joseph Hamilton of the British navy arrived in Texas
with credentials from E. Murray Macgregor, governor of the Wind-
ward Islands, addressed to "His Excellency the President or Offi-
cer Administering the Government of Texas," empowering him
to demand of Texas and to identify and recover certain British
'Ogilvy to Pakenham, Aug. 20, 1839 (two letters); Palmerston to Hen-
derson, Oct. 23, 1839; Henderson to Palmerston, Oct. 30, 1839; Elliott to
Jones, Sep. 30, 1842, and Feb. 4, Aug. 17, and Oct. 28, 1843; Jones to
Elliott, Sep. 19, 1843.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 9, July 1905 - April, 1906, periodical, 1906; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101036/m1/13/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.