The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 10, July 1906 - April, 1907 Page: 84

Texas Historical Association Quarterly.

April 7, 1835. News had been received that General Cos
had ordered troops to march on Monclova and suppress the legis-
lature, and that body forthwith authorized the governor "to take
of himself whatever measures he might think proper for secur-
ing the public tranquillity and sustaining the authorities in the
free exercise of their functions." Article 4 declared that "The
executive is hereby competently authorized to contract loans upon
the state rents for the purpose of discharging the expense incurred
in the execution of this decree."1 It is somewhat surprising to
find that the governor considered this as sufficient authority to
dispose of more Texas land. Perhaps he thought that at all times
a "proper measure." At any rate, on May 2d, Dr. James Grant
was allowed to contract for a quantity of certificates for one league
each. One hundred of these he sold in Nacogdoches through his
agent, Alexander Newlands, and the titles were issued by John
Cameron after the closing of the land offices. Besides these,
James Ogilvy, an attorney of New Orleans, wrote in 1839 that
Grant's heirs had in their possession three hundred similar certifi-
cates, and that he had been interested in five hundred altogether.
The face of the certificates shows that the price was paid in full
but does not specify what it was. Ogilvy intimates, however, that
Grant paid $100 a league.2 It is possible that some of the certifi-
cates referred to by Ogilvy were purchased under the law of March
14.
The grant to Williams, Peebles, and Johnson.-Enough has
been said, perhaps to show that the transgression of Williams,
Peebles, and Johnson in the final speculation was by no
means unique. It was not even novel in its magnitude, though
iL may have been somewhat original in method. On the 11th of
May, 1835, they addressed a note to the governor, saying that they
had "informed themselves of the tenor of the law of April 19,
1834, empowering him to dispose of four hundred leagues of land
and restrain the arrogance of the wild Indians. We "have con-
ceived the idea," they continued, "of blending the object of this be-
nevolent design with the augmentation of the population by means
1Decree No. 297, Laws and Decrees of Coahuila and Texas, in Gammel,
Laws of Texas, I 394.
'Volume 34 of Titles iin the General Land Office; Supplement to the
House Journal of the Fifth Congress, p. 347; Ogilvy to Packenham,
August 20, 1839, Diplomatic Correspondenc.e in the Texas State Library.