THE GROUP MESSAGE TO THE COMMANDANT
FROM JESSE BARTLETT AND OTHERS, JULY 17, 1835
Three days after the July 14, 1835 convention at San Felipe,
Jesse Bartlett, as a representative of the Jurisdiction of Austin,
joined eleven others in a conciliatory message to the Mexican commandant at Bexar
about hostility between the Mexican government and the citizens of Texas.
The following is their letter.
It was published in The Papers of the Texas Revolution,1
from which the following transcript is copied.
Department of Brazos, San Felipe
July 17th, 1835
To Col. Comd. at Bexar
Sir: We whose names are undersigned are chosen by the people of the jurisdiction we severally represent, to investigate the truth of certain rumors, and recent occurrences, which tend to place the citizens of Texas in an attitude of hostility to the general government. Time will not now admit of a detailed account of the alleged reasons for the acknowledged insult upon the government agents, and officers, at this place, and at Anahuac. Hereafter, and as soon as a full and free expression of the people of Texas can be obtained, every explanation will be given which justice, and the honor and dignity of all concerned, may require. The people at large we know, have not participated either in the feeling which prompted the aggressions, or in any acts opposed to the legal authorities of the Mexican republic,--and do, and ever will, disavow the course pursued by a few impetuous and misguided citizens, whose conduct, unexplained, might implicate the whole community.
Accompanying this communication you will receipt Capt. [Tenorio's]2 statement of recent transactions among us. We are ignorant of the views this gentleman entertains, or the representations he may choose to make of the late affair at Anahuac, where he commanded, or the disposition of the people generally, of this province. But presume from his being honored with a station so important under the government, that he is an honorable man, and a gentleman, and as such has been received and treated here, since the unfortunate occurrence which placed him in his present situation. So far as his imperfect knowledge of our language and every possible manifestation of the people will admit, he cannot but feel sensible of the general confidence of Texas citizens in the purity and justice of our constitution and laws,--and respect for the government which the Mexican states have chosen.
You are respectfully requested to transmit this communication, or a copy of it, to Genl. Cos, and the President of the U.S. [of Mexico],3 with a concluding assurance from us that the citizens of Texas generally have become adopted citizens of the Mexican Republic from choice, after a full knowledge of the constitution and laws--that they entertain a grateful sense of the liberality of the government towards her colonies in the distribution of lands to settlers, and other advantages tending to their convenience and prosperity, in agriculture and manufacture,--that they will be prepared on every constitutional call to do their duty as Mexican citizens, in the enforcement of the laws and promotion of order, and respect for the government and its agents--that they will cherish those principales [sic] which most clearly demonstrate their love of peace, respect for their Mexican fellow-citizens, and attachment to the free liberal institutions of their adopted country.
Wiley Martin, President
John R. Jones,
A. Somervell,
C. B. Stewart
Jesse Bartlett,
Jurisdiction of Austin.
Sterling McNeil,
James Knight,
J. H. Bell,
Jas. H. Perry,
John A. Wharton,
Jurisdiction of Columbia.
D. C. Barrett,
Jurisdiction of Mina.
C. B. Stewart, Secretary
J. B. Miller, Political Chief.
1. John H. Jenkins, gen. ed., The Papers of the Texas Revolution 1835-1836, vol. 1, pp. 249-50 (Austin, Tex.: Presidial Press, 1973).
2. The bracketed material and brackets are as published in The Papers of the Texas Revolution 1835-1836.
3. Ibid.