Go to Page | Index | Contents 192     | Biblio. | Page- | Page+

Federalists Seek Support in Texas

had been forced to flee so suddenly that they had preceded him, he arrived full of excitement and fear of the Centralists' plans to destroy the Liberals in northern Mexico and to invade Texas. He did not tarry long at San Antonio, but accompanied by José María González, Juan Rafael Garza, Agapito Galban, and Sergeant Juan Ramos, Anaya proceeded with Colonel Andrew Neill from San Antonio to Houston,[61]  reaching there on September 11, where the Telegraph and Texas Register,[62]  on the very day of his arrival, gave him a good buildup. The very next day, however, the Morning Star[63]  warned that the Texan authorities should exercise "particular caution" in dealing with the Federal emissary.

At Houston Anaya informed Lamar that the opening of trade across the Río Grande had assisted the Federalist cause, and because of this beginning in friendly relations, he now sought an agreement between Texas and the revolutionary states of the north, by which the federation would agree to acknowledge the absolute independence of Texas from Coahuila in return for military support and the privilege of recruiting volunteers in Texas, and transporting troops and supplies across Texas to northern Mexico.

Anaya's plan for the restoration of the constitution of 1824 contained ten articles.[64]  It was clearly emphasized in the plan that the "present



61. In his doctoral dissertation on "The Republic of the Río Grande," p. 141, David M. Vigness says Anaya went from San Antonio to Austin where he conferred with President Lamar. I have been unable to substantiate this statement. The site for the City of Austin was not selected until April 13, 1839, and the construction of the government buildings did not get under way until May 1839. The first town lots were surveyed and offered for sale on August 1. The archives of the government reached Austin on October 9, at about which time the government officials began to arrive from Houston and the new government offices were opened. See Claudia Hazelwood, "Austin, Texas," in Handbook of Texas, I, 85-86; Telegraph and Texas Register, Sept. 18, Oct. 9, 16, and 23, 1839.

62. Sept. 11, 1839.

63. Sept. 12, 1839.

64. "Plan proyectado por los federalistas mexicanas para el restablecimiento de las instituciones de 1824." Ms. copy, unsigned and without title, dated Houston, December 14, 1839, is found in the Anaya Papers, ms. Manuel Rivera Cambas, Historia antigua y moderna de Jalapa y de las revoluciones del Estado de Vera Cruz, III, says the plan was published in both Mexico and the United States. It is highly probable that the ideas in this plan were not fully developed until near the date shown on it. Anaya's plan was published over his signature in Le Courrier (New Orleans), Jan. 15, 1840; and on March 20, 1840, Le Courrier published an article in both French and Spanish and signed by Juan Pablo Anaya, which is a

Go to Page | Index | Contents 192     | Biblio. | Page- | Page+

AFTER SAN JACINTO: The Texas-Mexican Frontier, 1836-1841
Joseph Milton Nance, 1963