Texas. A commission, composed of Austin, Wharton, and Miller, was appointed to lay before the congress of Mexico a memorial setting forth the grievances of the people, and a petition for their relief. Austin was the only commissioner that went to Mexico.[1] His arrival was at an inopportune time, the whole country being in a state of revolution. Under the circumstances the congress showed no disposition to listen to Texan complaints. Austin was put off from time to time with unfulfilled promises till he began to lose patience; still, unwilling to go back without trying every expedient, he remained in Mexico, but wrote a letter to the municipalities of Texas urging them to complete their organization of a state government. That letter was intercepted, and Austin was arrested at Saltillo, brought to Mexico and thrown into prison, and kept therein several months.[2] During his imprisonment, the Mexican government despatched Colonel J. N. Almonte to visit Texas, and report his observations. In January 1835 he published a portion of his official report, which, though showing indifference and ignorance on the part of Mexico in regard to Texas, was still a link in the chain of historical evidence. He pretended that the political dis-
- ↑ The chief complaint was against unconstitutional laws passed by the state legislature; the neglect of Texan interests; the wanton grants of lands etc. — all of which rendered it necessary that Texas should have a separate organization. Austin also, under his instructions, demanded an improved mail service between Monclova and Nacogdoches, extending to the United States line, the Sabine River; correction of custom-house abuses; the punctual payment of the presidial companies; and the circulation of the official journal, El Telégrafo, to the ayuntamientos of Texas. Austin, Espos. sobre Tejas, 9-32.
- ↑ From Feb. 13 to June 12, 1834. During the first three months he was treated with the utmost rigor. After being bandied from court to court without the slightest idea of what his fate would be, he was released on bail, and finally given the benefit of an amnesty. It is said that he owed his pardon to Santa Anna. Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, iii. 263. His long imprisonment and detention had been grounded on reports from the government of Coahuila and Texas; some of his own countrymen also had been slandering him, though his motto had ever been fidelity to Mexico, and opposition to violent men and measures. He had warned the Texans against meddling with the family feuds of the Mexicans, as they had nothing to gain and much to lose by such interference. Kennedy's Texas, ii. 20, 58-60, 63; Domenech, Mission Adv., 20; Thrall's Hist. Texas, 49, 60-2. Austin's treatment caused much indignation in Texas. Lester's Houston, etc., 46-51
