Republic "with but little sacrifice or hazard on their part," but would "also be furnished with an excellent opportunity of exploring a section of Texas, that . . . [had] hitherto been but little known," and would become more fully acquainted with the character and disposition of the citizens of the adjoining states of Mexico.[15]

In order to forestall the crisis likely to develop in friendly capitals because of this sudden outburst of military activity on the part of the Texan government, Secretary of State Lipscomb, in July, finding "so many rumors . . . afloat, and so many imprudent and erroneous newspaper publications, of invasions from the Mexicans, and of Texian armaments for offensive operations," thought it advisable to state the present position of his government in respect to the Mexican Federalists in a letter to the special agents of Texas abroad.

We have been in . . . receipt almost every week, for the last six or seven months, of rumors of an invasion from Mexico, headed by Arista, and the rumors have come to us with all the appearances of being authentic, when at the same time, we have been fully advised of the total inability of the Mexican Government to cross the Río Grande, in any force that could give us any trouble. These rumors have been generally traced to the Federalists and their friends, fabricated with the evident object in view of drawing an army to the west, knowing that from the restless disposition of our people, and their innate love of enterprise, they could not be restrained from crossing the western boundary in great numbers, and joining them against the Centralists. The President had baffled all these attempts to be drawn into offensive measures, and succeeded in preventing any excitement or calls upon our people for a force to repel such threatened invasion. But a short time after he left the Seat of Government for this place [Galveston], a similar rumor reached there -- that of an invasion, with an extensive coalition of savages, in conjunction with the Mexicans. This rumor seemed to have had so much the appearance of authenticity, that it effected a call from the War Department of a levy, en masse, of our militia west of the Trinity, with the exception of the Gulf counties. This was a source of much uneasiness to the President, as he believed the rumor was another phantom from the same fruitful source, that had already proved as prolific as Bancos. He counteracted its efforts as far as practicable, and the militia have been disbanded before much inconvenience or expense had been incurred. We are now satisfied that this conjecture was correct.

The Federalist leaders, declared Lipscomb, are "unremitting in their