Indian wars and pioneers of Texas Page: 853 of 894

                                
734

INDIAN WARS AVD PIO2EERS OP TEXAS.

Texas at Saltillo as member from Texas. When he
heard what had taken place in Texas, he hastened
to Matamoras, joined Gen. Mexia, with whom he
was well acquainted, and sailed with him to the
mouth of the Brazos for the express purpose of
effecting some amicable settlement of the whole
affair. He now assumed the friendly office of
mediator between the contending parties, and they,
(the colonist) thus extricated themselves from
the impending ruin by receiving the olive branch
obtained by the influence, and passed to them
through the hands, of Stephen F. Austin. Austin
was welcomed back by the people with every
demonstration of joy, with balls, speeches, firing of
cannons, etc., at the mouth of the Brazos, Brazoria
and especially at San Felipe. Six miles below the
latter place he was met by a military company
under Lieut. Day, and escorted into town, where
he was received and addressed by William H. Jack
in behalf of his fellow-citizens.
Austin replied in a happy speech, and was then
received by the Mexican soldiers, who had surrendered
at Velasco. Austin addressed them in Spanish,
embraced the officers, who then fraternized with
the colonists, and all sat down to a sumptuous
banquet. Speeches were delivered, toasts drunk,
cannon fired, and there was every demonstration of
joy. Immediately after the expulsion of the Mexican
soldiery, political leaders began to excite the
people on the question of separation of Texas from
Coahuila. They held that Texas was entitled to a
separate State government; they made speeches and
published articles in the newspapers on this subject,
producing much excitement and discussion throughout
the colonies.
He became a member of the convention which
met at San Felipe on the 1st of April, 1833. In
spite of his original views, in opposition to the majority,
he was selected by the convention as commissioner
to bear the memorial and constitution
adopted by the convention to the national authorities
at the City of Mexico, to obtain the admission of
Texas as a State into the union of Mexican States.
When he arrived at the capital he found that he
had no easy task before him. " While all parties
were willing to trust the Commissioner, they distrusted
his constituents, and were unwilling to let
them have a government of their own and in their
own hands." He defeated the project to make a
territorial government for Texas, which would have
placed Texas immediately under the authorities at
the City of Mexico, and put all of the public domain
of Texas on the market for sale to a foreign
company of speculators. He obtained a repeal of
the odious law of the 6th of April, 1830, which forbade
the immigration of North Americans into
Texas (except to his own colonies or existing contracts),
and also secured the establishment of mail
routes from the capital (Mexico) through Texas to
Nachitoches, in Louisiana.
On the 10th of December, 1833, he left for Texas,
after having exhausted all his means to obtain the
admission of Texas as a State. He was overtaken
and arrested at Saltillo, carried back to the City of
Mexico, and thrown into a dark, damp, stone dungeon,
where he was deprived of light, books, paper,
ink, and society. The imprisonment of Austin
produced a profound impression in Texas. The
ayuntamientos of Texas prepared and sent to Mexico
long memorials praying f:r his release. Peter
W. Grayson and Spencer H. Jack were selected to
bear these petitions to Mexico; they did not secure
Austin's release, but they afforded him great comfort,
as they showed that he was not forgotten by
the people of Texas, for whom he had suffered and
was suffering in mind and body, and spending his
private means. On the 12th of June, 1834, Austin
was transferred to the State prison, where his
quarters were more comfortable. Now there was
some talk of trying him for treason 
a trial Austin
earnestly desired 
but the judges of all the courts
refused to have anything to do with the case, for
they knew there were no real charges against him,
and that his imprisonment was wholly unwarranted.
Finally, after an absence of two years and four
months, under a general amnesty law, Austin was
permitted to return to Texas. He landed at the
mouth of the Brazos on September 1st, 1835.
On the 8th of September, 1835, Austin addressed
a large concourse of citizens, in which he
detailed with great particularity the existing condition
of Mexico, the progress of the revolution then
going on, the probable result of the struggle, and
the changes he thought would be made in the fundamental
law of that government. He advised that
a general consultation of the people of Texas be
held as speedily as possible, and decide what representations
ought to be made to the General Government,
and what ought to be done in the future.
Austin proceeded immediately ito San Felipe,
and was placed at the head of the Central Committee
of Safety of that jurisdiction.
He labored day and night with his two secretaries,
Gail Borden, Jr., and Moses Austin Bryan,
sending out circulars giving information, and preparing
Texas for the great crisis so near at hand.
While these events were passing in Texas, the destruction
of the Mexican Constitution was being
consummated in Mexico; the State Legislatures
were abolished, the citizens disarmed, and the