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Growth of War Spirit in the West

the "swan song" of the Lamar administration were anything but favorable to Texas. Its southwestern frontier was the scene of constant attacks by Texan renegades and parties of Mexicans from the Río Grande; the nation was heavily in debt, almost on the verge of bankruptcy; and, although the fact was not yet known in Texas, the Santa Fé Expedition had been a complete and dismal failure. The people, in general, were in low spirits. Prices were greatly depressed. There was no money in the country, and people were moving "back to the States faster than they came in."[7]  The effects of the Panic of 1837 in the United States had begun to have adverse effects upon the Texas economy. The city of Austin was pictured as "more dull than you could imagine," and the Congress was described as doing little, "except prying into the different offices to find the leaks by which the money has all run out, and contriving the means to stop some of them."[8]

Partisanship was at its height. The recent presidential election had terminated in favor of the "Houston crowd," and all the ills that beset the country, it was felt by the supporters of "Old Sam," must be pictured as the fruits of the Lamar administration. On motion of Tod Robinson of Brazoria County on November 8 the Naval Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives was instructed to inquire into the expediency of recalling the navy from the service of Yucatán.[9]  The committee reported on November 13 that it was inexpedient for the House to act upon the subject of the recall of the Texan navy until action had been taken by the Senate on the Convention entered into


four from South Carolina; three from Kentucky; four from Virginia; one from Pennsylvania; eight from Tennessee; one from Wales (Simeon L. 'hello-roaring' Jones); one from Arkansas; one from Ohio; one from Austria; one from Ireland; one from Vermont; and ten from Georgia. In the group were eighteen farmers, eighteen lawyers, and four merchants. The oldest was fifty-four, and the youngest, twenty-five.
7. J. M. Odin to Monsieur J. Timon, July 16, 1841, in [James M. Kirwin and others], Diamond Jubilee, 1847-1922, of Galveston and St. Mary's Cathedral, p. 66. Ralph Bayard, Lone-Star Vanguard: The Catholic Re-occupation of Texas, 1838-1848, pp. 144-145, 257-258.

8. Anson Jones to Mary Jones, Austin, Nov. 19, 1841, in Anson Jones Papers, ms.

9. Harriet Smither (ed.), Journals of the Sixth Congress of the Republic of Texas, II, 17. The Naval Affairs Committee was composed of Louis P. Cooke (Travis County), Gustavus A. Parker (Fort Bend County), Thomas F. Smith (Fannin County), Thomas M. Dennis (Matagorda County), and Jesse Grimes (Montgomery County). On November 11 Robert M. Williamson (Washington County) and on the 12th John B. Jones (Galveston County) were added to the committee.

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