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REMONSTRANCE OF THE MEXICAN ENVOY.
47
dred Indians and Mexicans were alreadly within
a few miles of Nacogdoches, putting every
thing to fire and sword, in order to determine
Gen. Gaines to commit so gross an imposition
as to approach that very Sabine river, as he
actually did. 'But, with the battle of San Jacinto
the danger to the Texians vanished, and
in their turn the Indians vanished likewise.
General Gaines, who a few days before reqquired
thousands of mounted riflemen, to be able to
fight an enemy whom he stpposed still more
formidable, then acknowledged that the alarm
had been 'a false one, and that he no longer
stood in need of such reinforcements. The
calm therefore continued as luong as t; e confidence
prevailed in Texas, that the Mexican government
would sanction the treaty that force
alone could have compelled General Santa
Anna to sign. But about the end of June, it
became known that Mexico was preparing for
a new campaign, and, as.if by enchantment,
the Indian aggressors again started up, according
to what was written by the Texian Commissioners,
who had gone to Matamoras to exchange
prisoners; according to what the l'exian
General Rusk communicated afterwards to
General Gaines; according to the reports made
to the latter by other Texian individuals; an.l
according to the information given to the said
General by the Texian Major Ster-ling C. Robertson,
alluding to the murder of two white
persons on the Navasota. It is also from that
very date since General Gaines has thought he
stood in 'need, in order to oppose the principal
belligerent, of those very mounted riflemen
which he discharged after the battle of San
Jacinto,-it is since then that the defence of
the frontier of the United States has required
the occupation of Nacogdoches, though Nacogdoches
is fifty [seventy] miles distant from
said frontier. Does any one wish a clearer
explanation? If not, let the undersigned be
informed, what evidence has General Gaines
had, for taking the step which he has taken,
which has not originated from the enemies of
Mexico;-from the same who are interested in
the United States' compromiting their neutrality
upon the Texas question?
Now, if no danger has existed; if the very
rumours of it, by coming from the quarter
whence they came, never ought to have inspired
the least apprehension; if these very
rumours have been reproduced a number of
times in the space of seven months, and have
been as often constantly belied by facts; how
came they to be believed? How could the
danger ever appear imminent? How could
it be styled inevitable.? Where was, in short,
the absolute necessity which has imposed tite
obligation of invoking on this occasion the
principle of self-defence, trampling, as has
been done, inits name, upon the most sacred
rights of a friendly nation?
But the President, says Mr. Dickens, has
had to rely upon the reports made to him by
the commanding general of the frontier, and
be is ready to punish him, if he has deviated a
tittle from his instructions. To this the undet
signed answers, in the first place, that
General Gaines' partiality in favor of the
'rexians has been so notorious, and his creditlity
so great, since the command of the gaid
frontier has been entrusted to him, that his
reports ought never to have had any weight
with so enlightened a man as the President of
the United States-above all, after the Governor
of Louisiana and General Macomb had
so well delineated the chatracter of that general,
and pointed out the influences which
were directing his condutct. The undersigned
answers, in the second place, that the infallible
punishment of General Gaines, or of
any other general, who may hrteafter deviate
from the instructions, whict he may receive
fi-om the President in the matter, can prove
of no advantage to Mexico, neither can it give
tranquillity to it at present, nor afterwards
repair the immense injiries which have been
cause(d already, aund those which may yet be
caused to it, through the abtise already made,
and which may yet be made, of the discretional
power which the President has deposited
with the commanding general of the frontier.
And, really, of what consequence can
the cashiering of any of these generals be to
Mexico, if through their fault tthe invasion of
the Mexican territory has preceded?-If, by
this invasion, the Texians have been inspired
with greater confidence?-If by it their ranks
have been augmented with tlhousands of volunteers,
who would not have gone to Texas,
had they not believed that they could depend
upon the substantial aid of the soldiers of the
United States?-If, finally, said invasion being
prolonged or repeated, the next campaign
should arrive, and then the presence alone of
the United States troops in Texas is sufficient
to produce embarrassments, compromises, or
collisions, which may overturn the best concerted
plans of the Mexican army? Mr. Dickens
will agree with the undersigned, that the
government of the latter cannot receive as sufficient,
a guaranty which does not protect
Mexico from dangers to which she is exposed,
in consequence of the presence of the United
States troops upon her territory.
Mr. Dickens, with such a motive, insinuates
that the last instructions forwarded to General
Gaines were more precise and positive,
than those which had been previously communicated
to him, and therefore that his successor,
General Arbuckle, will be able by
adhering to thlem, to ftlfil with greater facility,
the l'resident's intentions. But if the instructions
alluded to by Mfr. Dickens, are the
same as those contained in the President's
letter of the 4th of September to General
Gaines, the utndersigned cannot, in this case
either, be of the opinion of the Hon. Acting
Secretary of State. Quite the reverse. Indeed,
the tindersigned finds the latter instructions
a thousand fold more arbitrary than the
firmer; those at least designated the spot
where the invasion was to halt, whereas the