All the Mexican part of Mexico seemed to be in disorder. It was high time that Texas, which knew what it wanted, be granted statehood, so that it could cut loose from Coahuila and pursue prosperity in the American way while the rest of Mexico, south of the Rio Grande, fussed and fought in the Mexican way.
Word was received that Stephen Austin had arrived in the City of Mexico in July, and that he had immediately presented the Texas petition. But the year aged, and little further was heard in Gonzales.
“Why doesn’t President Santa Anna help?” once asked Ernest, of Mr. Carroll. “I thought he was in favor of Texas. Texas helped him in his revolution, didn’t it?”
Dick Carroll banged the supper table with his fist.
“Santa Anna!” he snorted. “He’s going to be dictator, I tell you. He’s staying there on his rancho, so as to let Farias the vice-president introduce republican laws that will make the other parties mad; and when the other parties get strong enough he’ll come out and say that the ‘wish of the people’ must be obeyed. Just now he comes out only long enough to stir the broth with his finger, occasionally. I’ll bet my hat he fools Steve Austin. Austin’s a good man, and a smart man, but some of us rather fear he’s a little too mild. Of course, it’s better to win a p’int by peace than by war, and Austin is a man of peace, as long as peace stands any show. He hopes that if we prove to Mexico we’re honest, Mexico will be honest with us. Besides, we’ve all we can do to fight off the Injuns. But I for one don’t trust Don Presidente Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna as far as you can throw a bull by the tail.”
“Did you ever see Santa Anna?” asked Ernest, curiously.
“No, I never did. But Ben Milam and several other men I know have seen him. Milam fought along with the patriots in 1821, when Mexico freed herself from Spain and became a republic. Santa Anna was a colonel then, on the patriot side, although he was born in Spain and was in the Spanish regular army. When the new president, named General Iturbide, turned about and proclaimed himself emperor, Milam and a lot more who opposed him were put in jail; but Santa Anna headed another revolution that deposed Iturbide, restored the republican government, and of course freed Milam and the rest. Santa Anna has always been ag’in a monarchy or a despotism—look what he did in 1832 when Bustamante tried to seize the reins—and we all have thought he would be just the man to understand the Texas ideas. But he’s surely acting suspicious now. He’s a brainy man, and not big to look at. About five feet five, I hear, small-boned, dark complexioned, Spanish type, with good head and smart face, and fine manners. Aged about forty-five. And he’s quite a soldier, too. He’s always been successful in his fighting, to date.”
The year 1834 opened with a terrific “norther” or cold, sleety storm, sweeping struggling Texas almost from border to border. The people of Gonzales were only beginning to thaw out in the welcome sunshine, when from Stephen Austin arrived bad news at last. He had had the cholera. The petition was unanswered, and congress kept postponing any action on it. He finally had told Vice-president Farias that unless something was done for Texas very soon, the settlers would be likely to take matters into their own hands. Also, he had written a long letter to the mayor and people of San Antonio, saying that he did not believe he could accomplish anything and that San Antonio and the other Texas towns had better meet and form a state government, anyway, as permitted by the Constitution of 1824 whenever Texas could prove that she was ready for statehood.
Then, before this advice had been spread far enough to be acted upon, a man on lathering horse rode post-haste from the west into Gonzales. He was Ben Milam. As he drew rein in Market Square excited voices hailed him.
“What’s the matter, Ben?”