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A HISTORY
PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES,
FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR.
BY JOHN BACH McMASTER,
UNIVERSITY OP PENNSYLVANIA.
IN SEVEN VOLUMES.
VOLUME V.
1821-1830.
NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
72 FIFTH AVENUE. 1900.
'J AW rW O
Copyright, 1900, By JOHN BACH McMASTER.
*.5
®o tl)e itlcmors of mti ftlotbcr.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME V.
CHAPTER XL.
PAGE
Monroe begins his second term 1
Jackson appointed Governor of Florida 2
Revolutions in Mexico 3
Struggle for liberty in Texas 4, 5
Long in Texas 6, 7
Austin in Texas 8, 9
Mexico in rebellion 10, 11
Austin returns 12
Great Britain and the slave-trade 13, 14
Suppression of the slave-trade 15-17
The Oregon boundary 18, 19
Russia's claim 20
Claim refused 21
Great Britain protests .22
United States offers refused 23
Discussed in the Senate 24
Benton's speech 25, 26
Oregon bill lost 27
CHAPTER XLI.
Growth of Monroe Doctrine 28
Washington's stand 29
Wisdom of 30
The Holy Alliance 31, 32
Eall of Liberalism in Spain 33
The Hundred Days in France 34
Progress at Aix 35
Spain and her colonies 36
Monroe's policy 37
Rebellion in Spain 38
v
VI
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Rise of Liberalism in Europe 39
End of revolution in Naples 40
South American republics 41
Independence recognized 42
Great Britain and the republics 43, 44
Jefferson's advice 45
Principles of the Monroe Doctrine 46
The doctrine announced 47
Government in England 48, 49
At home 50
A third term for Monroe 51
Clay on the doctrine 52, 53
Monroe Doctrine applied 54
CHAPTER XLII.
Split in the Republican party 55, 56
Jackson nominated 57, 58
Jackson indorsed 59
South Carolina for Calhoun 60
Anti-caucus movement 61-63
A caucus called 64
New England for Adams 65, 66
Pennsylvania for Jackson 67
Other candidates 68
Crawford and Gallatin 69
Gallatin withdraws 70
The struggle in New York 71-73
The choice of electors 74, 75
Position of Clay 76, 77
Clay attacked 78
Kremer's charge 79
Printing of electoral votes 80
The House elects Adams 81
CHAPTER XLII I.
Growth of the country 82
New trades and occupations 83
Labor movemenl begins 84
Condition of the working-man 85, 86
A working-man's party 87
Robert Owen 88
The Rappites 89
Owenism 90-92
New Harmony 03-96
Frances Wright °7- n8
Working-man's party at New York 99
CONTENTS. vii
PAGE
Labor reforms 100
Demands of the labor party 101
Excitement at the polls 102
Owenism disavowed 103, 104
Labor journals 105, 106
"Workeyisin" 107,108
William Morgan 109
Morgan's book 110
Morgan kidnapped HI
Treatment of Miller 112
Trial of kidnappers 113
Indignation against Masons 114
Political Antimasonry 115, 116
Morgan or Monroe ? 117
Convention of seceding Masons 118
Masonry antireligious 119
Antimasonic convention 120
CHAPTER XL/V.
Economic conditions in 1825 121
Growth of New York 122
Trade and commerce 123
City government 124, 125
Government of Philadelphia 126
The introduction of gas 127, 128
Attempts to use anthracite 129
New Yorkers welcome new fuel 130
Up the Hudson 131
Opening the Erie Canal 132, 133
Travel on it 134
Success of the canal 135
Effect on the West 136
The rage for canals 137
The first railroad charter 138
Early railroad schemes 139-141
Interest in transportation 142
The beginning of railroads 143, 144
Mechanical difficulties 145, 146
Early locomotives 147
Plans for promoting communication 148
The Cumberland road 149
Discomfort of travel 150, 151
Life on the frontier 152-155
The frontier judge 156-158
The circuit rider !59, 160
Wild-cat banking 161» 162
vm
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Attacks on the courts 163
Old court and new court 164, 165
Increase of travel on the Mississippi • 166
Flat-boating 167
St. Louis 168
The cotton trade 169
Northern and Southern interests 170
The public lands 171-174
The Indian lands in Georgia 175, 176
The Cherokecs refuse to sell 177
Creeks become uneasy 178
The treaty of Indian Springs 179
False accounts sent to Washington 180
Georgia defies the President 181
She defines her position 182
Seizure of Cherokee lands 183
Negro problem in the North 184
Free negroes in slave States 185
Restrictions in Ohio 186
Free negroes in Illinois 187, 188
Edward Coles 189
" Convention or death " 190
Shall Illinois be a slave State? 191
Laws against the negro 192
The Colonization Society 193
Popular estimate of the free black 194-196
Free negro in Massachusetts 197
Convention in Albany attacks the free negro 198
Negro plot in Charleston 199
A new law enacted against the negro 200
South Carolina Negro Seamen Act 201
South Carolina defends her law 202, 203
Opinions from other States 204
Georgia on State rights 205
American Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color . 206, 207
South Carolina on State rights 207
Benjamin Lundy 208,209
Antislavery sentiment in Baltimore 210
Lundy and Garrison 211
Antislavery literature 212
Antislavery societies 213,214
Rendition of fugitive slaves 215-217
Maryland asks for enforcement of the law 218
Slavery in the District of Columbia 219,220
Free negroes in the District of Columbia 221,222
Slave-trade in the District 223-225
Slavery in the District 226
CONTENTS. ix
CHAPTER XLVI. pAGE
The planting States 227, 228
The manufacturing States 229, 230
The tariff question 231, 232
Debate on the tariff bill 233, 234
Clay's American system 235. 236
Webster answers Clay 237-239
British competition 240
Failure of the tariff 241
New bill defeated 242
Position of the planting State 243, 244
Anti-tariff agitation 245
Harrisburg Convention called 246, 247
Dr. Cooper's anti-tariff speech 247-249
South Carolina on the tariff 249
The Harrisburg Convention 250
Revision of the tariff 251
The South resists 252-254
Tariff and anti-tariff petitions 254
The tariff of 1828 255
Anti-tariff agitation in South Carolina 256
Retaliation proposed 257-259
Union sentiment in the South 260
Nullification urged 261-263
The South Carolina Exposition 264-266
Protests of Georgia and Alabama 267
CHAPTER XLVII.
The age of political writing 268
The age of magazines 269-271
Professional magazines 272, 273
Religious newspapers 274
Secular periodicals 275
Literary reviews 276
Books for young women 277
Books for children 278
Political pamphlets and writings 279
French influence 279, 280
Popularity of English books 280, 281
Philadelphia, a literary centre 281-283
Popular novels 283
Charles Brockden Brown 284
Standard American works 284
Contemporary opinion 285
Subserviency to Great Britain 286-290
Washington Irving 291-293
X CONTENTS.
PAGE
Marshall's Life of Washington 293, 294
Franklin's Life and Writings delayed 295, 296
James Fenimore Cooper 297-300
Contemporaries of Cooper 301
William Cullen Bryant 301-303
Compensation of authors 303, 304
Jared Sparks 304-306
History and biography 306
CHAPTER XLVIII.
English travellers' accounts of America 307-309
An international controversy opens 309
Criticism of the Quarterly Review 310, 311
Paulding's reply 312
Dwight's reply 313
Articles in British reviews 314, 315
Poverty of American literature 316
Sydney Smith review 317, 318
Fearon's Narrative 319-321
Irreligious condition of America 322
Low character of the legal profession 323
The state of learning and education 324-326
Reply of the North American Review 326
Walsh's appeal from the judgments of Gx^eat Britain . . . 327, 328
Sydney Smith's famous criticism 328-330
Conciliatory articles 331
Patronizing criticism 332
National vanity of Americans 333-335
Everett's defence 335-337
The horrors of democracy 337, 338
Slavery and irreligion 339
The North American Review's spirited defence .... 339, 340
Defence of tourists' accounts 340
Conciliatory reviews 341, 342
CHAPTER XLIX.
The rise of the common school 343
The Massachusetts system 344, 345
Text-books and teachers 346
Grammar schools and high schools 347
The Connecticut schools in colonial days 348
The Western Reserve and the school fund 349, 350
Education in Rhode Island 351, 352
Lack of common schools in New York 352
Regents of the University 353
School-fund experiments 354
CONTENTS. xi
PAGE
The Lancastrian method 355
Educational legislation 356
School laws of New Jersey and Delaware 357
Early efforts in Pennsylvania 357, 358
Philadelphia free schools 359, 360
State of education in the counties 361
Defects of the system 362
Education in Maryland 362, 363
Federal aid to education 363
Maryland's proposition 364, 365
Jefferson's proposed system 366
North Carolina reports 367
South Carolina system 368
Georgia legislation and realization 369
Education in the Northwest 370, 371
Schools in Kentucky and Tennessee 372
CHAPTER L.
Political ideals 373
States adopt constitutions 374
Bills of rights 375
Legislative provisions 375, 376
Suffrage qualifications 377
The Governor's powers 377, 378
Democratic reforms 378, 379
Constitutions of the second decade 380, 381
The Connecticut constitution 381, 382
Dissatisfaction in New York 383, 384
The convention assembled 384
Property versus manhood suffrage 385
Martin Van Buren 386
Extension of suffrage 387, 388
Massachusetts Convention of 1820 388
Webster champions property qualification 389
Abolition of religious qualification 390-392
Suffrage agitation in Virginia 392, 393
The courts and unconstitutional acts 394
Colonial precedents 394, 395
The New Jersey precedent 395, 396
Opinion of Virginia court 396, 397
Rutgers versus Waddington 397
Trevett versus Weeden 398, 399
Legislative attack on the courts 399, 400
Debate in Federal Convention 400
Early decisions of the Federal courts 401, 402
States resist Federal Government 402
xii CONTENTS.
PAGE
Pennsylvania and the Olmsted case 403-406
New England and the Force Act 407
The militia question 407, 408
The admission of Louisiana 408
Quincy's speech 409-411
Massachusetts and the Embargo Act 411
Resistance to the Conscript Bill 412
Judiciary upholds the powers of Congress 412
Ohio and the Bank of the United States 413
Virginia alarmed 414
Kentucky occupying claimant laws 414, 415
The Supreme Court assailed 416
State rights asserted 417, 418
Changes in political ideas 418
The Convention and the Executive 419-421
The speech and the Cabinet 422, 423
The electoral system in practice 423, 424
The written message 425
The Convention and the President's term 425, 426
The third-term tradition 427, 428
Disposition to amend Constitution 429
Proposed constitutional amendments 430, 431
Dissatisfaction with the Executive office 432
CHAPTER LI.
South American republics 433
Clay attempts mediation 434
Instructions to our Minister to Spain 435-437
Russian co-operation sought 437-439
Instructions to the Mexican Minister 439
Poinsett opens negotiations 440
Congress at Panama 441
Opposition of Jackson's supporters 442
Debate in the Senate 443
Meaning of the Monroe Doctrine 444, 445
The recognition of Hayti 446
Slavery in Cuba and Porto Rico 447, 448
Debate in the Senate concluded 449
Nomination of commissioners confirmed 450
The House calls for papers 450
Debate in the Ilouse 451-455
Is the House bound t<> vote the appropriation? .... 455-457
Webster's view of the Monroe Doctrine 457-459
Fate of the Panama Congress 459
Boundary negotiations with Mexico 460,401
Negotiations fail 462
CONTENTS. xiii
PAGE
Boundaries of Maine and Oregon 463
Settlements on the St. Croix 464
Which now is the St. Croix? 465,466
Where are the highlands « 467, 468
The British view 469
The American view 470
The case before the arbitrator 471, 472
The arbitrator decides 473
Maine and Massachusetts protest 473-475
The negotiations postponed 476
The Oregon boundary 477
The American claim to Oregon 478
The British claim to Oregon 478, 479
Debate on territorial bill 479, 480
Is Oregon worth having ? 481-483
West Indian trade 483,484
United States retaliates 485,486
West Indies closed 487
CHAPTER LII.
Issues of the period 488
Anger over Jackson's defeat 489
Popular will disregarded 490
Kremer's charges 491
Jackson offended 493
Clay replies 493,494
Popularity of Jackson 495
Clay's course approved 496
Jackson renominated 496, 497
The campaign begun 498
Bargain and corruption charged 499
Randolph-Clay duel 500
Opinion of senators 501
The fiftieth anniversary of Independence Day 502
The East Room 503, 504
Jackson's view of the situation 504
The Carter Beverley letter 505
Jackson's accusation 506
Clay's denial 506,507
Buchanan on the bargain 507, 508
Tennessee affirms the charge . • 508, 509
New York's resolutions 510
Kentucky investigates 511, 512
Adams renominated 513
Nominating conventions 514
Estimate of Adams 515
xiv CONTENTS.
PAGE
Jackson and the tariff 516
Election days, 1828 517
The popular vote 518
Jackson reaches Washington 519
The electoral vote 520
Jackson's cabinet 520, 521
The political revolution 521, 522
The inauguration 523
Inauguration scenes 524, 525
Party and patronage 526
Removal of postmasters 527
Removals in other departments 528
Scramble for office 529, 530
Effect of removals 531,532
The post-office 533,
Rates of postage 534
Troublesome postmasters 535, 536
CHAPTER LIII.
Georgia Indians 537
Indian policy 538, 539
Freemasonry and politics in Mexico 540
Insurrection in Mexico 541
Texas wanted 542,543
Texas should be bought 544-547
Texas should not be bought 547, 548
Negotiations reopened 549, 550
Hostility of Mexico 551, 552
The advice of Alaman 553, 554
Failure of negotiations 554
Great Britain and the tariff 555
Extent of the treaty-making power 556
MAPS.
FACING PAGE
Map of Texas, containing the latest grants and discoveries, 1836 . 12
Map of the United States in 1826 121
Map of Roads, Canals, and Steamboat Routes in the United States
in 1825 148
Map of the Northern Part of the State of Maine and of the adjacent
British Provinces, 1830 467
Map showing the distribution, east of the 100th meridian, of the
Population of the United States, 1830 536
HISTOET
PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER XL.
TEXAS, OREGON, AND THE SLAVE-TRADE.
March fourth, 1821, the day whereon, according to law, Monroe should a second time have taken the oath of office, fell on a Sunday. Never in our history had such an event happened on such a day, and, considering the peculiar char- acter which the Christian world has given to the first day of the week, Monroe was uncertain what to do. Regard for the Sabbath prompted him to put off the oath till the morrow. Regard for his duty prompted him to take it the moment his first term expired. In the end his religious feelings tri- umphed, and he was sworn into office at noon on March fifth, thereby establishing a precedent which has twice been fol- lowed since his death.
The first important act of his second term was the ap- pointment of Andrew Jackson to the Governorship of Florida. After two years of delay, due to the state of affairs in Spain, the Florida treaty of 1819 had at last been ratified by Ferdi- nand and reratified by the Senate of the United States on Washington's birthday, 1821. Time did not serve to organ- ize the new territory; hence, beyond spreading over it the revenue laws and the law against the slave-trade, and au- thorizing the President to invest the powers of the existing Government in a proper person, no legislation had been at- tempted when the session closed. Whoever was sent as Gov- ernor would be invested, therefore, with all the immense vol. v. — 2
2 TEXAS, OREGON, AND THE SLAVE-TRADE, chap. xl.
powers of the old Captain-General of Cuba and the old Gov- ernors of Spanish Florida, save that he could neither levy taxes nor grant land. For this post a man of the utmost prudence was needed. But it pleased Monroe to select Jackson, be- cause, in his opinion, some amends were due for the attack made upon the general in the House of Representatives two years before; because the victory at New Orleans had given him a popularity such as was not enjoyed by any other Ameri- can then living; and because, by a recent act of Congress, he was about to be turned out of the military service of the United States.
The law provided that after June first, 1821, there should be but one major-general, and, as Jackson was the youngest in commission, he must go. That the nation might be spared the odium of discarding the most distinguished soldier then in her service, Monroe at once appointed him Governor of Florida, and commissioner to receive the territory from the Spaniards. He promptly accepted the office, and, while James Grant Forbes was despatched in the sloop of war Hornet to carry the order of the King of Spain to the Captain- General of Cuba for the delivery of the province, and bring back the necessary orders for the surrender of Florida, its forts, and its archives to the American commissioner, Jack- son travelled slowly southward to Pensacola. At that city, in July, amid the tears and sobs of the people, the province was formally delivered to the Americans.
Had the weeping Spaniards at Pensacola looked over the world on that memorable July day, they could have found no spot on earth so blessed as the United States, no people so pros- perous and happy as those with whom their lot was cast. Abroad, near by, around them on every hand, were nations struggling desperately for a little of that kind of liberty of which henceforth it was to be their privilege to enjoy so much. With all the details of the revolutions and counter- revolutions of Mexico and Colombia, Guatemala, Chili, Buenos Ayrcs, Naples, Greece, Portugal, and Spain we are most happily not concerned. Yet the story of them must be told with some fulness if we are to understand two memorable events of Monroe's second administration — the announcement
1808-18. REVOLUTIONS IN MEXICO. 3
of the doctrine that bears his name, and the early settlement of Texas.
The uprising of the Spaniards against Joseph Bonaparte, in June, 1808, had been followed by a struggle between the new King and the revolutionary juntas that sprang up in every Spanish city and struggled for control of the American colonies. Chief among these dependencies of the Crown was Mexico. There the natives of Spain and the Mexi- cans in office, influenced by the emissaries of Bonaparte, would gladly have obeyed the order of the Council of the Indies and declared for King Joseph. The Viceroy Iturigaroy and the Mexican people, led by the agents of the junta of Seville, were for adhering to Ferdinand Seventh; but, when agents of other juntas appeared and claimed to govern the country, the people in their distraction appealed to the viceroy to establish a revolutionary government for Mexico. As he was about to comply, the Spaniards holding office under the Crown seized and committed him to the prison of the Inquisition. When the junta of Seville heard of this, it approved the act, and appointed the Arch- bishop of Mexico viceroy. He was soon removed, however, and the government intrusted to the Court of Audience, which held it when the victories of Napoleon in Spain scat- tered the junta of Saville for the time being. It reassembled, however, at Cadiz, and sent out Don Jose Venegas as viceroy.
The dispersion of the junta had been the signal for a re- volt of the native Mexicans under the lead of Don Miguel Hidalgo, a curate of Dolores, in the province of Guanaxuato. Half-breeds and Creoles, Indians and mestizos, even royal troops, hurried to his standard, and, with an army growing as it marched, he set off for and took the city of Guanaxuato. The revolt now became general, and Hidalgo, after providing abundance of munitions with the money found in the city treasury, started for Mexico. His troops were many and en- thusiastic; his supplies were plentiful; all opposition melted away as he approached, and there seemed to be nothing to stop his triumphant progress. But, though the viceroy had few troops, he had a weapon which to the ignorant and super- stitious rabble that followed Hidalgo was far more terrible
4 TEXAS, OREGON, AND THE SLAVE-TRADE, chap. xl.
than guns and soldiers — the spiritual arms of Kome. This he used, and Hidalgo and his followers were excommunicated. To weapons of this sort the revolted priest paid no heed, and made his way to the outskirts of the city of Mexico. But his people had deserted him in such numbers that he was forced to retreat, was pursued, betrayed, taken, and executed in the usual Mexican way. One of his followers, Bernardo Gutierres, made good his escape, and, after a long flight across Texas, found refuge at Natchitoches, where he made the ac- quaintance of Lieutenant Augustus W. Magee.
Magee was a graduate of "West Point, had caught the spirit of the Wilkinson school of soldiers on the frontier, and was quickly persuaded by Gutierres to joint in an attempt to conquer Texas. To get followers was an easy matter, for the neutral strip which lay between the Sabine and the Arroyo Hondo had long been inhabited by a lawless, desperate set of freebooters, who lived by plundering the overland trade between Mexico and New Orleans, and were ready for any enterprise however reckless. A call to them to join the " Re- publican Army of the North " and receive forty dollars a month and a league of land in the Republic of Texas was promptly responded to, and in June, 1812, one hundred and fifty, under Gutierres, began their march for Spanish Bluffs, on the Trinity river. With the history of that army — how it captured Nacogdoches and the fort at Spanish Bluffs; how it crossed the Colorado and was besieged by Don Manuel de Salcedo, Governor of Texas, at La Bahia ; how it drove him to San Antonio; how it captured the town, and treacherously put to death Salcedo, Simon de Herrera, Governor of New Leon, and a host of officers — need not be related. With the capture of San Antonio success left the Republicans. They deposed Gutierres, placed Don Jose Alvarez Toledo in com- mand, were defeated, and in two months' time the few that remained were back on the west bank of the Sabine.
After establishing a camp at Gaines's Ferry, Toledo re- turned to the United States, collected arms, ammunition, and a few men, whom he led to El Puente del Rev, a place be- tween Vera Cruz and Jalapa, fortified it, and waited for the troops of the Mexican republic to join him.
1812-1817. STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY IN TEXAS. 5
The fall of Hidalgo had not ended the struggle for in- dependence. Another priest, Morelos by name, had rebelled, had raised an army in the southwestern provinces, had won a great battle at Tixtla, and had summoned a congress to meet at Chilpanzingo, which in 1812 published a declaration of in- dependence, and sent Don Jose Manuel Herrera to represent the Mexican republic in the United States. But with the death of Morelos, while on his way to join Toledo at El Pu- ente del Key, the cause of the Republicans languished, and the duty of reviving it fell on Herrera.
For three years his efforts were fruitless; but in Decem- ber, 1815, Don Luis Aury, with three small vessels, broke through the Spanish fleet which then besieged Cartagena and escaped. Gathering about him, as commodore of the joint fleet of Mexico, Venezuela, La Plata, and New Granada, some fifteen vessels, Aury was about to scour the gulf when Her- rera persuaded him to co-operate in another attempt to con- quer Texas. Learning from the former pirates of Barataria of the splendid harbor afforded by Galveston Bay, the commo- dore and the Minister decided to occupy it, and in September, 1816, landed on its beach, raised the flag of the republic, es- tablished a government, and chose Aury civil and military Governor of Texas and Galveston Island, which were de- clared part of the Republic of Mexico.
Success now seemed near. Men joined him from the United States. The pirates of Barataria, glad of a place of refuge, took service under his flag. A great slave-trade which he opened with New Orleans brought money, and, what was equally important, his army was increased by the unexpected arrival of Xavier Mina, a gallant soldier of Navarre, with arms, ammunition, military stores, and two hundred well- officered troops. By the spring of 1817 there were thus gath- ered at Galveston some six hundred fighting men under three commanders — Aury, Xavier Mina, and Colonel Perry — all ready and eager to act. Just at this time some letters taken by a privateer from a Spanish ship made known the defence- less state of the town of Soto la Marina — sixty miles up the Santander river — and against this, in April, the three commanders set out. It fell without opposition, and with its
6 TEXAS, OREGON, AND THE SLAVE-TRADE, chap. xl.
fall the expedition ended and the leaders parted. Amy, in a fit of jealousy, went back to Galveston. Mina, eager for more conquests, announced his determination to march farther inland. Perry, protesting that such a march was madness, led his troops toward the United States. Ill fortune attended them all. Mina was captured by the royal troops and put to death; Perry, after a desperate fight at La Bahia, in which every man who followed him was slain, blew out his brains on the field of battle ; Aury, on his return to Galveston, found the place in the hands of the pirates, with Lafitte in command, and, after a vain effort to establish himself at Matagorda, he sailed away to join McGregor at Amelia Island, whence the United States drove him out.
With 1819 came the Spanish treaty, the adoption of the Sabine as part of the boundary, and the relinquishment of the claims of the United States to Texas. All over the southwest that treaty awakened profound indignation, but nowhere did it rise so high as in the town of Natchez. From it had gone out each of the expeditions which since the days of Philip Nolan had invaded Texas. To it had come for refuge every leader who, after his discomfiture, had escaped death. In it as a great river town enjoying a fine trade with the interior of Tennessee was gathered the most reckless, lawless, enter- prising population — flatboatmen, steamboatmen, frontiers- men— to be found on the river. To them an appeal was made by the leaders of the new attempt, and at a public meeting a company of seventy-five volunteers was raised for the in- vasion of Texas. Dr. James Long, who, after serving as a surgeon at the battle of New Orleans, had settled at Natchez, was chosen to command, and early in June the little band set out for Nacogdoches. As they passed across Louisiana and crossed the Sabine and entered the old neutral ground, every survivor of former bands hurried to join them, so that when Nacogdoches was reached Long had with him some three hundred men. Among them was Bernardo Gutierres.
At Nacogdoches the " patriots " — so they called them- selves— established a provisional government, appointed a su- preme council of nine, and issued a proclamation declaring Texas to be a free and independent republic. The citizens
1819. LONG IN TEXAS. 7
of Texas, so the document reads, have long indulged the hope that when the boundaries of the Spanish possessions in Ameri- ca were drawn, Texas would be brought within the United States. An expectation so flattering has prevented any seri- ous effort to throw off the yoke of Spain. But the recent treaty has dispelled the illusion so long and so fondly cher- ished, and roused the citizens of Texas from the torpor into which a fancied security lulled them. Spurning the fetters of colonial vassalage, scorning to submit to an atrocious des- potism, they have therefore resolved, under the blessing of God, to be free, and are prepared unshrinkingly to meet and firmly to sustain any conflict in which this declaration may involve them.*
The supreme council then proceeded to make laws for raising revenue and disposing of the public lands, established a printing office, and despatched Colonel Gaines to Galves- ton to ask aid of Lafitte. The old pirate chief assured the officer that Long had his best wishes for success, but told him that the fate of Perry, Mina, and a host of others ought to show how idle it was to wage war by land with a small force of men. Long, however, would not profit by the advice, and, thinking that a personal visit to Lafitte might bring success, he set off for Galveston, and got back to find the Royalist army close at hand, his own forces scattered, and with diffi- culty made his escape to the United States.
Scarcely had Long and his troops been scattered when Moses and Stephen Austin, the final conquerors of Texas, made their appearance. Moses Austin was a native of Dur- ham, in Connecticut, but, after a series of migrations, had taken up his abode about 1800 at the lead mines of Missouri, then a part of Spanish Louisiana. Whether it was the restless spirit which had driven him half across a continent, or the treaty of 1819, or the rapid settlement of Missouri, that turned his attention to Texas is uncertain, but it is known that in that year he began to make inquiries as to the best way of bringing a plan for the settlement of Texas before the au-
* Issued at Nacogdoches, June 23, 1819. Printed in full in Nile's Register, vol. xvii, p. 31.
8 TEXAS, OREGON, AND THE SLAVE-TRADE, chap. xl.
thorities of Old Spain. He was advised to apply to the au- thorities of New Spain, and in 1820 set out for Bexar to do so. The story is related that Governor Martinez, to whom he applied, treated him as an intruder, bade him quit the province, and that he was actually on his way out when he fell in with the Baron de Bastrop, whose name is forever associated with that of Aaron Burr. Bastrop, it is certain, took up his cause, explained his purposes to the Gov- ernor, and obtained leave to draw up a memorial asking per- mission to colonize three hundred American families in the northeastern inland provinces. While the paper was on its way to the Commandant-General Don Joaquin Arredondo at Monterey, Austin started back to the United States. But be- tween Bexar and the Sabine he was robbed and left to find his way as best he could to the Louisiana settlements. The ex- posure and suffering were too much for him, and in June, 1821, he died, laying a solemn injunction on his son, Stephen F. Austin, to go on with the scheme.
The injunction, it is needless to say, was obeyed; indeed, no sooner was the father buried than the son hastened to San Antonio, conferred with the Governor, selected his tract, and drew up the plan for distribution of the land among the set- tlers. The tract selected stretched along the coast from Gal- veston Bay to Matagorda Bay, and ran inland to the great highway connecting Nacogdoches and Bexar.
The terms of the grant required four things. Three hun- dred families must be brought in from Louisiana; each set- tler must be a Roman Catholic or become so before he put foot on the soil of Texas; must give evidence of good char- acter and good habits; must take the oath of allegiance to the King of Spain, and swear to uphold the government and con- st it ut ion of the Spanish monarchy. All who came on those conditions were to be assigned tracts of lands proportionate to the size of the family, and were to pay twelve and a half cents an acre.*
To find settlers ready to go on such terms was an easy
*■ Each man, 640 acres ; a wife, 320 acres ; each child, 160 acres ; for each slave the owner was to have 80 acres.
1821. AUSTIN IN TEXAS. 9
matter, and in November, 1821, the schooner Lively, with eighteen emigrants, sailed for Matagorda Bay, while Austin with fourteen more went on by land to the Brazos, down which he hurried to the coast to meet the Lively. But of the schooner and her company no tidings of any kind ever reached him. For three months he waited and searched the coast, and then in despair went on to San Antonio to report his loss to the Governor.
It was March, 1822, when Austin reached the city and heard with amazement that Mexico was in rebellion against Spain. In 1816, when Apodaca succeeded Calleja as Viceroy of Mexico, he found the Eepublicans dispersed but far from conquered, and, in the hope of winning them back, adopted a mild policy of forgiveness. This proved successful. Leader after leader threw down his arms, till between Mexico city and Acapulco there was but one band of Republicans under arms. Their stronghold was a mountain on the road between the two cities, and was most difficult of access; their leaders were Guerrero, Asensio, and Bradburn, a native of Virginia, who had gone to Mexico with Mina, and their number about fifteen hundred.
In the hope of overcoming this last remnant of the Re- publicans, the viceroy appointed Augustine Iturbide to the command of the Department of the South, gave him some three thousand troops, sent him to Iguala, on the road to Acapulco, and bade him disperse the rebels. But before Iturbide had time to act news came of the revolution in Old Spain, of the re-establishment of the constitution, and of the introduction of reforms which aroused and alarmed the clergy. A cry for independence of the mother country was immediately raised, which Iturbide was not slow to turn to his own profit, and from his camp at Iguala he issued his pro- nunciamento in February, 1821. This famous plan proposed that Mexico should be turned into a limited constitutional monarchy; that the Crown should be offered to each member (if necessary) of the Bourbon family, beginning with Ferdi- nand Seventh; and that, if all refused it, the Mexican Cortes should select the king. A field-marshal with an army was at once sent against Iturbide. But the clergy, the soldiers, the
10 TEXAS, OREGON, AND THE SLAVE-TRADE, chap. xl.
whole people were behind him, and in four months' time Mexico was in their hands and Apodaca in prison. Hardly- had these events happened when Lieutenant-General Don Juan O'Donojti, sent out by the reformed government of Spain, landed at Vera Cruz, approved what Iturbide had done, requested an interview, met him, and, on August twenty-fourth, signed and published the treaty of Cordova. Till Spain could act, a regency of six persons, with Iturbide president, was to administer government; and until a con- gress could assemble a junta of five persons was to act as a legislature. As Spain refused to ratify the treaty of Cordova, Mexico became free and independent.
The first Congress under the new order of things assem- bled on February twenty-fourth, 1822, and was already well on in a quarrel with Iturbide when Austin arrived at San Antonio and was told by the Governor that he must obtain a confirmation of his grant by the Congress. The prospect of success was poor; but he proceeded to Mexico, where he found Hayden Edwards, Robert Lefwitch, Green Dewitt, three Cherokee chiefs — Bolles,Fuldo,and Nicollet — and Gen- eral James Wilkinson, each seeking a contract or a grant of land in Texas. So many applicants gave the matter much importance, and it was referred by the Congress to a committee who brought in a general colonization law, which was about to pass when, one morning in October, Iturbide perpetrated a political crime worthy of Charles and Cromwell.
Iturbide had long been quarrelling with the Congress and with the regency, and one night in May, when all was in readi- ness, the soldiers and the rabble, excited by his agents and headed by corporals and sergeants, filled the streets of Mexico and proclaimed him Emperor. It was a night ef violence, of uproar, and of terror. The seven hundred bells of the city pealed from every convent, church, and monastery. Mus- ketry and cannon were fired from the barracks, while the shouts of the mob announced to the startled people that the fate of Mexico was settled. When morning came the man thus proclaimed in darkness and in tumult by a rabble was duly decreed Emperor of Mexico by the Congress sitting in its hall surrounded by bayonets. Iturbide, who thenceforth
1823. ITURBIDE BECOMES EMPEROR. 11
called himself Augustine the First, having no further use for the Congress, determined to dismiss it, and accordingly, just after the members had assembled on the morning of Oc- tober the thirtieth, General Cortazar entered the hall, read the imperial order dissolving Congress, and announced that if the members did not leave within ten minutes he would be compelled, in obedience to orders, to drive them from the building. The president directed the order to be spread on the journal, called on Cortazar to sign it, and, when the gen- eral had done so, the members retired.* The Emperor Augustine at once organized a Junta of thirty-five members named by himself, and by this body was enacted, in January, 1823, the first law for the colonization of Texas. It began with a repeal of the royal order of Philip Second for the ex- termination of foreigners; guaranteed them liberty, security of property and civil rights, provided they professed the Roman Catholic religion; promised each farmer not less than one labor, f and each stock-raiser not less than one league ^ of land; and freed them for six years from the payment of all taxes, duties, and tithes. Settlers could come individually or as members of an empresario, or contractor's company.
Under this law the contract of Austin was formally ap- proved in February, 1823, and he was about to return to his colony when another revolution swept the Emperor from his throne and restored the republic.
During all these many revolts, uprisings, and revolutions the castle of San Juan d'Ulloa had remained in the hands of Spain. Iturbide had attempted to secure the surrender of the