At the close of the revolution, Iturbide, by fraud and force, caused himself to be proclaimed Emperor, who after much commotion, was dethroned, banished and shot.
I now proceed to demonstrate that the Mexicans are wholly incapable of self-government, and that our liberties, our fortunes and our lives are insecure so long as we are connected with them.
I now proceed to show, that these circumstances have engendered towards the colonists in the, mass of the Mexican nation, feelings of unconquerable jealousy and hostility.
I pass over the toil and suffering and danger which attended the redemption and cultivation of their lands by the colonists, and turn to their civil condition and to the conduct and history of the government.
In a short time, however, the nation deposed Iturbide, and deposited the supreme executive power in a body of three individuals.
In addition to the dread of Indians, Texas held out no inducements for Mexican emigrants.
In my last I contended that none of those ties which are necessary to bind a people together and make them one, existed between the colonists and Mexicans.
It is equally demonstrable that so far as Texas is concerned, there have been equal confusion, insecurity and injustice in the administration of the State governments.
The lands granted were in the occupancy of savages and situated in a wilderness, of which the government had never taken possession, and of which it could not with its own citizens ever have taken possession.
This cannot be said of Mexico. Not one dollar has she spent for Texas - not one Mexican soldier has ever fought by our side in expelling the savages.
What slender reliances, where the liberties and happiness of a nation are concerned!
When the people of the United States commenced their war for independence against Great Britain, the friends of Britain charged them with ingratitude.
Who among us is able to confer with his rulers; to represent his wants and grievances; to ask advice, or recommend salutary changes?
Who of us is able to read and understand and be entirely confident of the validity of his title to the land he lives on, and which he has redeemed from a state of nature by the most indefatigable industry and perseverance?
Who of us knows or can by possibility arrive at a knowledge of the laws that govern our property and lives?
Yes! the door of emigration to Texas was closed upon the only sister republic worthy of the name which Mexico could boast of in this new world.
Yet bad as this constitution is, it has been swept away by, if possible, a worse form of government, the central.