The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 32, July 1928 - April, 1929 Page: 342
361 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
[A note of February 28, 1833, stated that the subject of this
memoir was to be referred to the Secretary of Relations, and he,
on March 20, agreed that it should be submitted to congress.]
This was Ortiz's final monograph on the necessity for coloniz-
ing the frontiers of Mexico with native and European immigrants
as a bulwark for the integrity of the Republic. For twelve years
he had labored in season and out of season to convince the Fed-
eral authorities that the danger in Texas was acute due to the
successive encroachments of various Indian tribes who were sul-
lenly giving way before the steadily advancing hordes of North
American frontiersmen resolutely bent upon securing choice lands
upon which to found their homes and upon inducing the United
States to support their claims whenever possible.
He had at last aroused the government to the imperative neces-
sity for the immediate inauguration of a systematic program of
colonization under his personal supervision; but death claimed
him before he could even put his cumbersome and complicated
machinery into operation. The coming event cast a shadow be-
fore, for in August, 1833, Austin wrote from Mexico City to his
friend Williams, saying: "All is suspended by cholera--all is
melancholy-with death and civil war. It is said that upwards
of 16,000 have died." However during the few remaining months
of his life, Ortiz devoted his attention to the exacting task of secur-
ing the paltry sums needed for his immediate personal expenses
and for the transportation and equipment of the few colonists
he could gather.
The first to apply were three Mexican women who, in May, con-
sented to go to Texas on condition that their husbands should be
granted lands after they had served out their prison terms in the
presidios of that province or had been pardoned for good con-
duct. The sum of 145 pesos needed for their transportation ex-
penses was allowed under the law of April 6, 1830. But, though
Ortiz made every effort to spread abroad information of the won-
derful possibilities of far-away Texas and to urge settlement
there, as a patriotic duty, there is no evidence to indicate that
either these three poor women or other Mexicans ever emigrated
to that province as a result of his plans.
The prospect for securing foreign immigrants was even more342
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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/m1/347/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.