Difficulties of a Mexican revenue officer in Texas Page: 4
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4 DIFPICULTIES OF A MEXICAN REVENUE OFFICER.
confronting him was the lack of non-commissioned officers. He
therefore requested that he be empowered to regularly appoint
corporals.1
Tenorio was temporarily elated again about this time by an assertion
of authority on the part of the Mexican schooner Moctezuma.
The merchant vessel Martha being found without clearance papers,
was captured and carried as a prize to Vera Cruz.2 Nine passengers,
on board without passports, were arrested and left in the
custody of the custom house officer at Galveston.8 And a rumor
wab abroad that while on her way to Vera Cruz, the Moctezuma had
stopped at Velsco, and finding there the merchant vessel 0olumbia,
also without clearance papers, had captured her too. The
effect upon the colonists of thus tightening the reins of authority
Tenorio deemed already salutary. "They are not so proud," he
wrote, "and they draw the conclusion that more troops are coming;
because, as they say, this act indicates security, and that we have
lost the fear that they imagine we have of them, since we now dare
to harm them, which he did not do before."'
This exuberant confidence, however, was short lived. So far
the discomforts of the garrison had been due mainly to original
lack of equipment and subsequent neglect from the government;
while the semi-passive hostility of the colonists had been only a
vague cause of uneasiness in the background. Some of the latter
for a time paid the duties levied on their goods; others promised to
pay and often never redeemed their pledge;5 while still others were
considerate enough to bring in their cargoes under cover of
night without disturbing the officers, and thus there was no occasion
for friction. But in this arrangement lay the seed of discord.
1Tenorio to Ugartechea, May 18, 1835.-Bexar Archives.
'Juan Calvi to Tenorio, May 17, 1835.-Bexar Archives.
'The names of these passengers, as reported by Tenorio, were: The colonists,
C. T. Branch, Edward S. Roffe, H. Cunningham, Wm. D T. Shilton,
and S. Batter; the visitors, C. W. Ogden, C. S. Buffen, and Elija Williams;
and the intended colonist, J. B. Hiyan.
'Tenorio to Ugartechea, May 18, 1835.-Bexar Archives.
'bid.
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Barker, Eugene Campbell. Difficulties of a Mexican revenue officer in Texas, book, 1901; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29769/m1/5/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Star of the Republic Museum.