William Carey Crane

“ The rulers have not honesty, and the people have not intelligence. The people of Texas are determined to form a State Government, and separate from Cohahuila, and unless Mexico is soon restored to order, and the Constitution revived and re-enacted, the Province of Texas will remain separate from the Confederacy of Mexico. She has already beaten and repelled all the troops of Mexico from her soil, nor will she permit them to return; she can defend herself against the whole power of Mexico, for really Mexico is powerless and penniless to all intents and purposes. ”

“ Santa Anna had great confidence in Austin. On all occasions Austin had been loyal to recognized principles, and was the friend of order under all circumstances in Texas. Carrying out the design of his father, Moses Austin, who died in the incipiency of the colony, he had migrated with 300 families, colonists, and was the first to introduce the materials of the magnificent political structure which presented subsequently such form and beauty. Liberated at length by Santa Anna, and permitted to return home, he found public indignation aroused and expressed freely in municipal meetings. ”

“ If Texas wished or hoped for success as a distinct State she must defer to the prejudices and institutions of Mexico. Jealousies and suspicions should be avoided. Mexico would find in the bank clause of the Constitution a valid reason for the rejection of the Constitution. Thus reasoned Houston with great eloquence and ability. He succeeded not only in causing the article in dispute to be stricken out, but another clause inserted, forbidding the establishment of all banks and banking corporations for a period of ninety-nine years, which clause was adopted by a large majority in the convention. ”

“ Dear Sir:— Having been so far as Bexar, in the province of Texas, where I had an interview with the Comanche Indians, I am in possession of some information which will doubtless be interesting to you. and may be calculated to forward
your views, if you should entertain any, touching the acquisition of Texas by the Government of the United States. That such a measure is desired by nineteen-twentieths of the population of the province, I can not doubt. They are now without laws to govern or protect them. Mexico is involved in civil war. The Federal Constitution has never been in operation. ”

“ But another point could be gained: the support of the Government, otherwise not likely to be given, might be extorted in the face of a military force overawing the citizens of the place. Fifteen or twenty tribes of hostile Indians made incursions at will, and the colonists were compelled either to go without protection or protect themselves with any means in their power.
In the new Constitution it was proposed by Branch T. Archer, a distinguished son of Virginia, that there should be a clause authorizing the State of Texas to create a bank, or banks. Mexico had no banks. ”

“ I have a large and dependent fc^mily to provide for and protect, and a cold and heartless world to grapple with under circumstances that at present are rather unpropitious, and next to my own deliverance from the embarrassments which surround me, it would give me pleasure to know that the clouds which have hung over and dimmed your
horizon have been dissipated, and that your sun again shines forth in all its wonted grandeur. ”