ART. 10th. General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna shall be sent to Vera Cruz as soon as may be thought proper. And for its fulfilment and consequent effects, the contracting parties sign it by duplicate in the port of Velasco, on the 14th of May, 1836.

ANTONIO LOPEZ DE SANTA ANNA.

DAVID G. BURNET.

J. COLLINSWORTH, Secretary of State.
BAILEY HARDIMAN, Secretary of Treasury.
P. W. GRAYSON, Attorney-General.

This Treaty was presented to Filisola, and ratified by him on the 26th of May, it being further agreed that Texan Commissioners should accompany the Mexican army, and superintend the execution of the stipulations its commander was called upon to fulfil. A secret treaty, also signed on the 14th of May, by President Burnet and Santa Anna, stipulated that the latter should arrange for the favourable reception by the Mexican cabinet of a mission from Texas, that a treaty of amity and commerce should be established between the two Republics,that the Texan territory was not to extend beyond the Rio Grande,-and that the immediate embarkation of Santa Anna for Vera Cruz should be provided for his " prompt return being indispensable for the purpose of effecting his engagements."

Instructions were forwarded by the Supreme Government of Mexico to Filisola, through the Secretary of War and Marine, to negotiate for the liberation of the President Commander-in-Chief, to secure Bexar and the western ports, and to "save the remainder of the army by concentrating it at a convenient place for receiving provisions." Authority was given to the General "to form that movement,

to propose exchanges, and to preserve, for this purpose, and because humanity required it, the lives of the prisoners made and that might be made from the enemy." The government relied upon his Excellency's prudence for neither compromising the safety of the President, nor the honour of the nation. By retreating to the Rio Grande, Filisola had secured the safety of Santa Anna; he professed to have been always opposed to the execution of the prisoners, and now the captured Mexicans were six-fold more numerous than the Texans in his power. Bexar he deemed untenable, and he therefore recalled from it General Andrade and the garrison, destroyed the cannon he was unable to remove, and dismantled the fortification of the Alamo.

The campaign of 1836 terminated with the battle of San Jacinto, which sealed the independence of the republic. Even had the Mexicans been victorious in that engagement, it was Filisola's opinion that the condition of the army would have been very little improved. Had the whole force crossed the Brazos, it would have had three large rivers in its rear, unguarded by any detachment, while the camp was burdened with the sick, for whom there was neither medical aid nor food--the habitations and means of subsistence, provided by the industry of the Colonists, having been reduced to ashes by their own hands. Their cattle furnished the only article of sustenance, and the last remnant of these was eaten up by the retreating Mexicans.

Houston's plan of the campaign, although it bore hard upon the Colonists, ensured ultimate success. Had he fallen back as far as Nacogdoches, which he

seems to have, at one time, contemplated, the settlers would have placed their women and children and movable property beyond the frontier, and then have joined his standard, to the amount of four or five thousand men. The volunteers from the United States, of whom several hundred arrived at Galveston soon after the battle of San Jacinto, would have fallen upon the Mexican rear, and prevented the escape of a single man, even had Santa Anna's troops been in an efficient state. The vessels in the Texan service commanded the coast, and could have landed troops at any point. In a renewal of the war, the Mexicans would have had to encounter more formidable obstacles, and to incur a heavier expense than before. All the country beyond the river Trinity would have been a battle-field, where every requisite for the maintenance of an army was to be created. Hunger, the rifle, and exposure to the vicissitudes. of the climate were sure ultimately to annihilate the largest army that Mexico could bring into the field; and the result of a prolonged contest must have been, to draw from the north, to the debatable territory, a swarm of adventurers, combining in an extraordinary degree all the qualifications for military life, and who, after assisting Texas in its struggle for independence, would probably have marched for the "city of Montezuma." To Mexicans and Europeans this might seem an idle and impracticable project, but the class of men who would dare to undertake it are not likely to miscalculate their means of success in any enterprise. The warlike character of the population on the south-western frontier of the United States I have already noticed, and their

aptitude for service may be estimated by a proposition made by General Gaines, of the regular army of the United States, to his government, arising out of disagreements with Mexico in 1836-37. "If I am permitted," said the General, " to make an arrangement, in accordance with the foregoing suggestions, I feel confident that I can thereby obtain and call to the frontier, ready for an active campaign to the city of Mexico, from fifty to one hundred thousand first-rate men, for the most part mounted, before the first day of October next-the time they should march westward from the Sabine." This letter of General Gaines was written on the 22nd of May.*

Documents of the United States Congress, No. 351, p. 821.

TEXAS:

THE

RISE, PROGRESS, AND PROSPECTS

OF THE

REPUBLIC OF TEXAS.

BOOK III.

NARRATIVE OF TEXAN AFFAIRS SUBSEQUENT TO THE BATTLE OF SAN JACINTO SOCIAL ASPECT AND PROSPECTS OF THE REPUBLIC.

"It is not to be imagined that the impulse of the Anglo-Saxon race can be arrested. Their continual progress towards the Rocky Mountains has the solemnity of a provi dential event. Tyrannical government and consequent hostilities may retard this impulse, but cannot prevent it from ultimately fulfilling the destinies for which that race is reserved. No power on earth can close upon the emigrants the fertile wilderness, which offers resources to all industry, and a refuge from all want. Future events, of whatever nature they may be, will not deprive the Texans of their climate, their bays and rivers, or exuberant soil. Nor will bad laws, revolution, or anarchy be able to obliterate that love of posterity and that spirit of enterprise which seem to be the distinctive characteristic of their race, or extinguish that knowledge which guides them on their way. Thus, in the midst of the uncertain future, one event is sure. At a period which may be said to be near, the Anglo-Americans alone will cover the immense space contained between the Polar Regions and the Tropic, extending from the coast of the Atlantic to the shores of the Pacific Ocean."

DE TOCQUEVILLE's America.