Quintana, December 25, 1835.
[R. R. Royall]
Dear Sir: The affairs of Texas are more entangled than I suspected
they were. While the real friends of the country have been laboring in
good faith for the general good of all, a few men, an unprincipled party,
have clanned together to get possession of the public affairs to promote
their own aims of ambition and personal aggrandizement. There has been
much low intrigue, and amongst others I have been deceived and treated
with bad faith. My whole thoughts and soul were devoted to the common
cause of Texas, and I could not suffer even my suspicions to descend so low
as to suppose that there were individuals who could be influenced by any
other motives than purely patriotic ones. I ought to have known better,
but I was unwilling to believe that so much bad faith and political
dishonesty and low intrigues existed as I am now compelled to believe has
been and no doubt will continue to be practiced by Wharton and a few
others.
What ought the owners of the soil, the old settlers of Texas, who have
redeemed this country from the wilderness and made it what it is, think of
men who will collect the signatures of persons on their first landing, who
had not been here a day, or only a few days in the country, and attempt to
impose a paper thus signed upon the world as the opinion of the people of
Texas. This has been done here, and a large number of names collected
to a paper for declaring independence. It is time for the people of Texas
to look to their true interest and distinguish between those who serve them
in good faith and those who are mere political jugglers and base political
intriguers.
I am associated in a mission to the United States with a man that I
cannot act with—a man whose conduct proves that he is destitute of political
honesty, and whose attention is much more devoted to injure me than to
serve the country. I mean Wharton. Dr. Archer, I believe, is governed by
pure intentions, but he is very wild, as I think as to his politics, and too
much inclined to precipitate this country into more difficulties than there
is any necessiy for. Associated with such men, what have I to expect? or
what has the country to hope? The war is now taken beyond the limits of
Texas. Why bring it back by adopting such a course as must and will turn
all parties in Mexico against us? Will the people of this country suffer
themselves to be jeopardized in this manner by a few men who attempt to
assume their voice?
I have given my opinion on these matters in a letter to the Provisional
Government, which Col. Fannin takes up, and to which I refer you. The
fact is that Texas is now in the hands of a party, and the whole objects of
this party are to retain the power and serve themselves. If they are not
checked they will saddle the people with an army and a debt, and involve
them in a war that will be difficult to bear. The people ought to look to
their interest before it is too late. I find that I have but little to expect,
that is if I am to judge of the future by the past few months, and that I
can be of but little use to Texas. I go on this mission from a sense of duty.
It is a bad example for any one to refuse the call of the people when the
country is in difficulty. I have been called to go, and I obey the call; but
if party influence and low intrigues and cabals are to govern Texas, I wish
to have as little to do with her affairs in future as possible.
Perhaps I am myself somewhat to blame. My unsuspicious disposition
and the great importance I have always attached to union and harmony,
may have led me into errors by trusting and countenancing men who were
unworthy of my notice or of confidence. When I arrived here last
September I found the country distracted and divided. My first object was to try
and unite and harmonize, and I set the example by harmonizing and acting
with my personal enemies. I did it in good faith and in the firm belief
that I was serving Texas by such a course. Had there been good faith in
the men I thus attempted to harmonize, it would have been a service to the
country, but there was not, and for this reason the course I adopted did
harm. I find that parties must and will exist. I have heretofore tried to
keep them down. I have never been a party man, but in future I believe
the public good will be promoted by having the parties clearly and
distinctly marked. Let a line be drawn between them, let the people
understand that such a line is drawn and judge for themselves. Jackson's rule
is a true one: 'everything for friends and nothing for enemies.'
I beg leave to recommend my friend, Col. Fannin, to you and my friends
generally as a man who is identified with the soil and interests of Texas,
and as an honorable soldier. Farewell,
S. F. Austin.