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general of better judgment, of greater skill, and of better intentions, this important territory," declared a writer under the name of "El Patriota" at Matamoros, "will disappear from the map of Mexico."[192] Yesterday Arista called Canales a "traitor" and a "criminal," but today in his letters he calls him his "good friend." Such was Mexican politics about which most Texans were so naive. In the meantime, Cárdenas, acting under instructions from Canales, marched his men to Laredo, the erstwhile capital[193] of the soon-to-be-defunct Republic of the Río Grande, where the Mexicans laid down their arms and the Anglo-Americans retired to Texas, leaving much of the munitions in the hands of the Mexicans. As for the Texans, they had no desire to place themselves in the hands of General Arista, who had only recently characterized them as "those blood-thirsty enemies of our country," who are recruited from "the most filthy scum of the demoralized people of that country!"[194] Already many of the Anglo-Texans were restless and dissatisfied with the conduct of their Mexican friends, whom they had learned by bitter experience were Mexicans first and Federalists second. They feared further treachery. At the same time, the Mexicans had no desire to provoke another slaughter as had occurred at Saltillo. Consequently, the Texans were exempted from the capitulation and were accorded the privilege of either joining the Centralists or of receiving their pay and returning home, supposedly without molestation. Fisher and the Texans temporarily joined the Centralists "for the purpose of obtaining safety and protection until they . . . [could] find an opportunity of rejoining their countrymen."[195] They, however, retained their arms and separate organization, and their adhesion to the Centralist cause was entirely nominal and opportune. Canales made no provision for the Carrizo Indians, who had suffered so much in the seemingly endless struggle between Centralism and Federalism. The Texans waited a few days around Camargo for their pay and 192. Ibid. 193. Paul Horgan, Great River: The Río Grande in North American History, II, 568, describes the capital as a "two-room adobe and stone . . . building on the high north bank of the river at Laredo." 194. Mariano Arista, El general en jefe del cuerpo de Ejército del Norte á los habitantes de los departamentos de Tamaulipas, Nuevo León y Coahuila, Cuartel General en Vitoria de Tamaulipas, a 13 de Octubre de 1840, broadside. See also, "Proclamation of Mariano Arista, Head Quarters in Victoria de Tamaulipas, October 13, 1840, in Austin City Gazette, Dec. 2, 1840. 195. Telegraph and Texas Register, Dec. 16, 1840. |