The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 48, July 1944 - April, 1945 Page: 57
617 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Life of General Don Manuel de Mier y Terdn
in America, but which were of secondary interest.
The question with respect to Mexico is quite different.
It is a matter of attacking primary interests intimate-
ly tied up with the political existence of our country.
Mexico, imitating the conduct of France and Spain,
might alienate or cede unproductive lands in Africa
or Asia. But, how can it be expected to cut itself off
from its own soil, give up to a rival Power territory
advantageously placed in the extremity of its states,
which joins some of them and serves as a buffer to
all? How can it be expected to alienate two hundred
and fifty leagues of coast, leaving on them vast re-
sources for the construction of boats, the shortest
channels for commerce and navigation, the most fertile
lands, and the most copious elements for providing
means of attack and defense ? If Mexico should consent
to this base act, it would degenerate from the most
elevated class of the American Powers to that of a con-
temptible mediocrity, reduced to the necessity of buy-
ing a precarious existence at the cost of many humilia-
tions. In the act of ceding Texas it would have to re-
nounce all pretensions of having its own industries
with which to maintain and enrich its eight million
inhabitants, who within a few years could not avoid
seeing the bread and sugar, and even the maize and
beans consumed in the federal district, furnished by
the foreign harvest of Texas. The sale of this depart-
ment would reduce the territorial property, it would
reduce the value of land in all the rest of Mexico by
one half of that which it now has. These assertions,
which carry their own evidence, should be manifest to
such an extent, as space will not permit my enlarging
upon them, that they will establish a conviction in
every Mexican heart that he who consents to and does
not oppose the loss of Texas is an execrable traitor
who ought to be punished with every kind of death.
Coming now to the measures which your Excel-
lency ordered for the security of Texas, I have the
honor to inform your Excellency that I do not have at
my disposal a suitable corps for an immediate expedi-
tion: . . .
Mier y TerAn then furnished a report on the troops under
him at Tampico at that time. They consisted of one battalion
of infantry and parts of three squadrons of cavalry. He insisted
that it would be necessary to increase the forces on the frontier,
and to maintain them on a firm basis for a long time. The
reasons for this recommendation will be brought out presently.
To continue with the letter,57
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 48, July 1944 - April, 1945, periodical, 1945; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146055/m1/61/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.