Almonte's Texas: Juan N. Almonte's 1834 Inspection, Secret Report & Role in the 1836 Campaign Page: 208

                                
AI.MONTE'S TEXAS

much useful information.' These observations, in fact, played a significant
part in the way Mexico viewed Texas-especially concerning the U.S. govern-
ment's suspected involvement in promoting discontent through agents like
Anthony Butler and Sam Houston. This, of course, affected relations between
the two nations when the collision came during 1835-1836. Let us hear from
Almonte himself, and see what he said in his Secret Report. It was submitted
with a cover letter designated his No. 45.8
ALMONTE'S COVER LETTER FOR THE SECRET REPORT, HIS No. 45
Most Excellent Sefior
When in February of the present year I left this city commissioned by
the Supreme Government to investigate the true situation in Texas, Your Ex-
cellency will recall that the most alarming rumors about the Republic were
circulating in this capital as some people were claiming that its territorial in-
tegrity had been diminished. The lack of precise reports on a country that I
knew only very imperfectly, and the state of insecurity in which it was de-
scribed, made me decide to undertake my journey through [New] Orleans,
for which I went to embark from Veracruz. My object in going to New Or-
leans was to inform myself from there about the situation in Texas through
the captains of the ships that were arriving at that time from Brazoria and
Galveston with the products from that country, and, according to the reports
that I might acquire from them, to continue my journey by sea or by land. In
fact, I achieved my aim, and since I did not judge it prudent to head for
Galveston, I undertook my journey overland from New Orleans to Texas, and
I left that city late last March. Scarcely nine months have I employed in
7 The movements of the ousted vice-president are traced in Hutchinson, "Valentin Gomez
Farias," 315-362. After leaving the capital on 8 September 1834, he made his way to that bastion
of liberalism, Zacatecas. Just prior to Santa Anna's campaign against the state of Zacatecas in May
1835, Gomez Farias left for Monclova with one of the Viesca brothers. When the Supreme Gov-
ernment directed its efforts toward quelling dissent in Coahuila that summer, G6mez Fariais
reached Matamoros (via Monterrey) on 12 August 1835 and sailed for exile in New Orleans. Or-
ders for his apprehension were circulating as he raced to escape Santa Anna's long reach.
s Our translation comes from the Yale copy of the Secret Report, Ms. S-326, Western Ameri-
cana Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, but we have also consulted what
appears to be the "original" at the Biblioteca Nacional de Antropologia e Historia (BNAH) in
Mexico City, where it is classified as 51-8-64. Minor differences in these two primary source doc-
uments will be noted; there are no substantial ones.

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