The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 43, July 1939 - April, 1940 Page: 133

                                
Book Reviews

the rules of the Third Order of San Francisco in 1811, young
Lucas pledged to eat no meat on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays,
and Saturdays, to hear mass every day, to avoid comedies,
parties, and profane acts, and to stay away from taverns and
dubious houses. His formal education was completed in the College
of Mines in Mexico City in 1813, and this was followed by a
journey which lasted for six years and included in its itinerary
the capitals of Europe. On this journey he met prominent Span-
iards, Italians and Frenchmen as well as some rebellious Americans,
among whom was Father Mier.
After the war of independence, Alaman served in the first con-
stituent congress and later was in almost continuous service of his
country until his death in 1853. A list of the positions which he
held from time to time would be too long, but his most distin-
guished service possibly was as minister of relations during a long
and turbulent period in the political history of Mexico. Like many
others of his time, Alaman feared the peril of the United States
and worked continually to protect his country from it. Next to
this peril he feared most the threats from liberalism and federalism.
The story of Alaman is the record of the struggle for the survival
of the conservative party, for the ascendency of the proprietary
group and the clergy against the ever-increasing movements for
the abolition of the specially privileged.
Alam6n was largely responsible for the Law of April 6, 1830.
In his proposal for the law, the iniciativa, he incorporated General
Manuel de Mier y Teran's denunciation of the methods by which
the United States promoted its "spurious claims to the territory
of its neighbors and the means by which he hoped to thwart its
designs on Texas." To Mier y Terin's proposal for military occu-
pation of Texas, counter-colonization and coasting trade he added
a fourth measure for the preservation of Texas. "Let Congress
repeal the national colonization law in its application to Coahuila
and Texas, take from the state the right to make new contracts,
suspend the execution of existing contracts, and vest in the federal
government the further direction and supervision of colonization
in Texas." The passage of the law necessitated plans for the
permanent occupation of the department by military forces.
Alaman, in his five-volume history of Mexico, found his military
hero in Anastasio Bustamante, his program in the development of
industry, his source of political inspiration in Europe (pp. 78-80).

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