Austin arrested? The honest, honorable, fair-spoken Austin, who always had advised peaceful methods, and had been faithful to Mexico as well as to Texas, and in order to obtain simple justice had borne his own expenses as a delegate from Texas to the Santa Anna government, and after waiting there six months had only frankly and bravely told Don Gomez Farias that if Texas was not helped she would have to help herself. As for his letter to the Mexican mayor of San Antonio de Bejar—that had contained nothing treasonable. The petition from Texas had not been refused, yet, and he had merely advised that Texas wait no longer but go ahead and form the state government.
Who was Don Gomez Farias? Nobody but the vice-president! Santa Anna was the boss. Wait till Santa Anna the president heard.
So Gonzales and the rest of Texas did wait, and fume; and a public meeting held at San Felipe de Austin sent to the City of Mexico another petition, requesting that Stephen Austin be released. But it was unanswered.
However, to his town of San Felipe came from Austin a letter written on his way as a prisoner back to the City of Mexico. He said that matters had gone very well for Texas, and that the people there would do wisely to be grateful and to obey the Mexican regulations until the better ones were made. This sounded encouraging—but it was the last word from him for several months. News out of the City of Mexico stated that he had been placed in a dungeon, to await trial. He was allowed to communicate with nobody and nobody was allowed to communicate with him.
“Just like those Mexicans,” avowed Dick Carroll. “You see Santa Anna hasn’t released him? No, sir! Mark my words: Santa Anna is lying low, till all his schemes are ripe for him to be dictator. He’s letting Don Gomez [who was Farias the vice-president] have full swing and make republican laws that the monarchists don’t like; and when the monarchists are strong enough he’ll come out in the open, be their champion, pretending it’s the will of the people—fire Farias—who’s a more honest man than he is—and sit the saddle himself. Meantime he’s holding Austin, as a hostage for the good behavior of Texas. We don’t dare to r’ar ’round much now, for fear of harm to Steve.”
And Dick Carroll was proved to be a shrewd prophet.
Texas continued in a great confusion. There was a hot-headed war party, which urged separation from Coahuila and establishment as a state under the constitution of 1824, at any price, whether of blood and arms or not; and there was a stronger peace party, which urged the people to wait, to abide by the advice of Stephen Austin, and to go slow and better their condition gradually, rather than risk all on a doubtful war.
Over across the Rio Grande, in Coahuila province, which was the other half of the state of Coahuila and Texas, the confusion was worse. The people of Saltillo opposed whatever the people at Monclova, the capital, did; but the state legislature, meeting, passed a number of acts which gave Texas several measures that it wanted. Then the Saltillo party declared all these acts, and others, illegal; set up their own governor, and spoke of war.