Texas: the rise, progress, and prospects of the Republic of Texas, Vol.1 Page: 290 of 432

                                
236

TEXAS.

[BOOK II.

hills abounding in coal. From the Adaes the route
lay onwards to San Antonio de Bexar, Loredo (on
the left bank of the Rio Grande), Saltillo, Charcas,
San Luis Potosi, and Queretaro, to the city of Mexico.
Two months and a half were, at the period
of Humboldt's visit, required to travel over this
greatly diversified line of country, in which, from
Natchitoches to the banks of the Rio Gratde, wayfarers
were obliged to sleep without the shelter of
a roof.
It will readily be inferred that the success of the
United States in achieving their independence, and
the rapid growth of the Federation, were not regarded
with indifference by the intolerant and suspicious
government of Spain, whose step-dame
treatment of its Transatlantic dependencies had
supplied abundant cause for disaffection. Lest the
dreaded principles of the North American Republic
should contaminate the populous districts of Mexico,
it became more than ever necessary to guard against
the intrusion of foreigners through Texas.   The
feelings entertained by the Spanish authorities were
manifested in a favourite saying of a CaptainGeneral
of the Eastern Internal Provinces (Don
Nemisio Salcedo), that, had he the power, he would
prevent the birds from flying across the boundaryline
between Texas and the United States. Perpetual
imprisonment, at least, awaited the unlucky
wanderer who was caught on the forbidden soil
without the protection of a special licence.*
* By the " Leyes de las Indias " (Laws of the Indies), which
governed the decisions of the Supreme Courts of Spanish America
and their various branches, it was a capital crime for a foreigner