The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 32, July 1928 - April, 1929 Page: 316
361 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
commissions. This has brought about the alienation of a large
amount of the unappropriated lands, which many foreigners, citi-
zens of different parts of the United States of North America, now
possess illegally, under the insidious pretext of having brought
many of the poverty-stricken families which have settled in Aus-
tin's Colony at their own expense. Others have appropriated to
themselves a part of the territory under the eyes and with the
[collusion] of the commissioners and that, too, as I am informed,
by virtue of promises and secret agreements with the empresarios.
Thus, even though many colonists hold title and have possession
of a square league of land by the public records they have, as a
matter of fact, sold or mortgaged a portion of it. By this astute
dealing perhaps a third of the colony has been sold to represent-
atives of the neighboring government. It is rumored-- and I
have seen things to support it- that this transaction has netted
the principal empresario the immense sum of 177,000 pesos, be-
sides a vast amount of choice lands.
But these anti-national and contemptible intrigues would per-
haps pass without absolutely discrediting the government at Sal-
tillo if the new department and the nation as a whole could cherish
a hope of security and prosperity under the protection of an in-
terested government which would reach out over this vast area and
into the furtherest corners of this buffer country that is already
endangered.
The legislative, judicial, and executive branches of the govern-
ment might have given the newcomers favorable ideas of order,
legislation and national authority for the purpose of infusing in
them the respect and homage which they should rightfully feel.
It would seem that a generous nation would be worthy of this-
a nation, which, with such candor and good faith, deliberately ad-
mitted them. By just and energetic measures, it should have in-
fluenced them to become citizens, so to speak, and to stay within
proper limits. . .
Unfortunately all these stimulants and inducements indispensable
to the security, consolidation, and rule of a growing colonial estab-
lishment, formed exclusively of a class of men coming from a
country which by its habits and customs is diametrically opposed
to ours, have been absolutely unknown since the beginning of
modern colonization in Texas. It was very difficult to guide them316
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 32, July 1928 - April, 1929, periodical, 1929; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101089/m1/321/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.