Texas State Gazette. (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 4, No. 5, Ed. 1, Saturday, September 18, 1852 Page: 4 of 8
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TESAS STATE GAZETTE.
SEPTEMBER 18
1 Tff. F A -tl
IkJUll UMKS
Ml tSu " (1 . (I) !l. w..
VjOiViToas State Ijazktte: yvtjcn wo scp a man i
Vtti r thd success of a given measure Wc aro inclined to
8n'?'tli1ifnmrnt. tniitt ito. wlintt wn fica liini doVotOO
"mjmws fltEw.. .
A i.t lr
llflVOHHg luiiiouu
suppose no nas
!o llio advance
jncritof'a public 'picasare wa most readily roirdftfJo that lib is in-
'nuonnca ny moso puuuo considerations wiin" "
ftript' looking to thb good of the public. "But 'Men wo seplum urging
-a measure whioh must if successful boJflJImous to pnvato rights
ndihock palriotistn by doing violeudd to public justice we either
.in-line to suspect the acburacy of the judgment or enquire intd the
aotivoB or tlio person so acting.. Jfl U? latter instance when we
cannot command direct and poaitivo eyidciicc either of a defect of
judgment or pf the nature at tlio motives which influence tho action
if wo would como to a conclusion wc must dqtcrmino from nny
known results (bat would flow from tho consummation of tho dpsired
object as to tho eouijdiiMd.of tho 'judgment or the character of the
'6Hvea wliloh induce the effort for its accomplishment.
I propose Upon this hypothesis to examine to some extent tho
course pursued by tha South-Western American in reference to llio
Peters colbfljV'tMO company thongcut and the colonists. Tho read-
tors of that) napcr will have observed the assiduous devotion with
whicli the editor has for some timo past been exerting himself to
flylBce them
' vkilt Of the justicQ of tho claim of that company to one million and
ilhlyeight thousand acre? of land in that colony.
Xgd. Qf the purity and disinterestedness of tho motives and conduct
to? Mr. Iledgcoxo the agent of jhat company in all of his transactions
connected with te company and the colonists.
-tl3d'. 6f thd lawless and disgraceful conduct of the colonists in driv-
ing tlio agent otit bf tho colony and preventing him from proceeding
(further iu what T think I shall bo able to show his flagrant violations
dHlaw with a View to tho aggrandizement ot tlio company lie re-
presented by wresting from the colonists tho dearest rights to Texians
tths'homos ofithoir choice in the country of their adoption.
'4thvOf tho fact that tho late excitement in the Peters' colony was
(produced by" selfish Speculators who expected to profit-by the detey
jjndj confusion of their own producing.''
.fitn.Tlnit thcro fins been a great re-actjou in the feelings of the
. i i i. a: . .: i . . - ...i. ii i...
peopjo pi tfle colony unu i'uiiu! iims vuiTuuui:yMn wnvn un muse
wfp fat anything to do with the attack on Mr. Hedgpoxe and thd
removal or his papers wl be ashamed to acknowledge it.
jTie ability pf Mr. DeCordova's editorials would preclude him from
pleading successfully a defedt of judgment ; and in his editorial of tho
1'st'oFSebt. instant he asserts his means of correct information as to
'.tio facts of lher case and his superior knowledge to my own of tho
SMleo-nl right" of the parties. These considerations especially when
iakon in connection with the positive and unqualified manner in which
hoidiscourses on tho subject will prevent him from pleading success-
fully either a want of a knowledge of tho facts of the case or of the
low which gQvema tho legal rights of tho parties concerned. The
suo is then narrowed down to this ; that wo may determine the
character of his motives by any inevitable results (bat musts flow from
tjii successful establishment of his views. As I expect to controvert
ills positions I will not myself uttributcany particular mot) ves either
pure or sinister as tho cause of his efforts on this subject; but upon
th'o foregoing predicate will proceed to examine this subject with
reference to tho rights and the conduct of tho parties concerned und
leb'thoso who may feel interested enough to examine the subject
detbrmino n6 to the motives of tho editor.
lit' To ascertain tho equity of the company's claim to this large
amount of land we must look to the conditions of the contracts upon
wbch the' claim is founded and see whether the company has compli-
cdvwijh tho?0 conditions. I. shall afterwards examine the means
resorted tp by the company to wrest from the colonists tho lands they
were entitled to under tho act of the 10th of Foburury last and make
a suggestion which I will not now argue as to the legal titlo which
t'i)ocompany claim under that act.
For tho company to have scoured titles under the contracts between
them and the Republic it would have been necessary for them
ffr8t. To scctionize tho lands of tho colony by surveying not less
tttnrijAve hundred sections of land for each of five successive years.
Sd.'To have built a comfortable cabin upon each of two hundred
iCml'fifty of tho five hundred sections of laud to be annually surveyed
by! them corresponding to tho year for which those surveys were
made.
di On these two hundred and fifty sections to bo annually surveyed
ready for the reception of emigrants and in theso two hundred cabins to
be annually built ready for the reception of emigrants tho company
wprbjtp intrpduw and settle annually two hundred and fifty familes
ff)rfiyq successive years.
4th. The company were to furnish each male omigrant over seven-
teen "years of age or to cause to be furnished which is tle sarno
X -? k h...lti m wt rtl nlm fr1 J-tfttA 1 l taAftlf Aft a. a-ft ik .H..l .
inmgi Willi u guuu guu uuu uuv muiuiuu luuifus ui uuuiiuimiuw uuu iu
lteop'pn hand at a convenient place hi the colony a supply of powder
arid'icadfor the use of the colonists in the defence of 'the frontier.
';Up6n tho doing of thc4& things which constitute the substance of
thb obligation of tho company and upon tho return to the proper
ilfpnrtinent bf tho government of the evidence of having introduced
nd settled tho required number of emigrants and upon returning to
tho Conmi8sioner of tho General Lnndoffico the maps and field notes
f tho company's surveys the govenment was required to have exe-
cuted patents to tho company and their colonists for the contemplated
' twp hundred and fifty sections per annum or more if the company
should have surveyed and settled a larger number.
"Tho contract entered into in 1843 that being the date of the fourth
contract expired by its own limitation on tho first of July 1848. If
jtfio company Iind complied with the conditious of the contract at that
timej'thcy would have been entitled to patents for twelve hundred and
.fiftyisections of land and as many more as they had surveyed and
i settled Uot to exceed iu all ten thousand TheEe tactions wero then
j'to have beeu divided betwdeu the company and the colonists in such
pportionB as thby might have agreed upon so that tho company did
notgot less than 160 nor moro than 480 acres of each section. So
fatjtnelthor the company uor tho colonists have any titles. This could
-only have resulted from a failure of tho company to comply with the
contract or from a violation by the State of the obligations of a solemn
cQHtraott9 the great injury of its citizens and the company who had
Todlipon;Hs good faith in the fulfillment of its solemn promise.
T)ie cptjipauy has forfeited its contract pr tho State has forfeited its
IwiU state oiyhe subject of the extent of the company's compli-
ance With the termor tho contracts the following faqts which oqn
1)0 established in any court that may 'have jurisdiction of tho bubject
beyond'coniroversy ; undwhich if denied by Mr. DeCordova of any one
else I stand pledged to prqvo by tho voluntary affidavits of any con-
venient number" of respectable and credible citizens which he or they
may name ; and tho cpnlrary?of which I challengo him or any ono
else to prcve by tuastateuient of any one honest and disinterested
man dbtside pf the returns' of the company now in tho State Depart-
mehtWho truth of which I am now questioning :
f lstv That the company did uot Comply with tho first second und
'third contracts in nny single particular.
2d. That tho company were not ready with surveys made and
csbuisbuilt or even with surveys niada fontho reception and setle-
S5KBDtjpf thore4nired;numbQr oficolonisrs forlhetyeara ending'in 11844
m&M'i$M$iJ- bclieyetfor .84c. .(Andljayhcrero'revplVthat'groyud'
IhaylliacI forfeited their conlraot. (It must be unaefstood that Avhen
I assert that tho company have forfeited their contract it is my own
conclusion from the facts 1 propose to prove and not itself a fact
which I propose to prove.)
3d. That before tho company had mado n sufficient number of sur-
veys to comply wiith the requirements of the contract ready for the
reception of emigrants on settler's or odd sections in order to get the
names of persons enough resident in the colony to show ncomplynnce
with 'the contract they directed such persons to settle promiscuously
over tho tflisurvcyed parts of the colony and promised them that they
would make tho necessary arrangements to get tho titles to tho lands
they might settle upon if upon the surveying of the country it should
be found that they had settled upon the even or government sections.
4th. That during tho last year or two of tho contract the company
through its agent Mr. Ilcdgcoxe and his sub-agents eerved notices
in writing on theso same persons after they had built the houses ne-
cessary for their comfort and cleared and cultivated their farms some
of thorn residing on them for four or five years under and in accordance
with the above named directions and promises of the company's agents
notifying them that they must abandon their homes aud farms or the
land they lived on which was the same thing and settle on tho odd
or settlers section or they would not ho recognised by the company
as colonists aiyl would get no land.
Cn That the names of these same persons had then been returned
to the State Department a colonists settled by the company on sur-
veys made by the company in houses built by the company aud by
persons furnished by the company with the arms and ammunition re-
quired by the contract. Thus at the same time attempting to swindle
the government by falso testimony that these men had been settled
according to tho contract and to swindle these colonists by declaring
that they would not do what they had already done that was to re-
port them os colonists and by declaring that unless they should yield
to theso unjust demands of the company they should not have staid
in the colony when these same colonists had the company's pledged
faith through its agents for the lnnd they lived on.
6th. I cannot assert that the company never built one cabin in the
colony ap they may have done so for the Hedgcoxe family and other
agents as to which I do not know but I have distinctly propounded
the question to largo assemblies in several of tho counties of the
colony as to whether they or nny of them knew of any one cabfn
that had been built by tho Peters company and they have always
answered no Aud I challenge Mr. DeCordova to prove by any credi-
table testimony that the company even built one cabin in tho colony
unless it was for the persons above named.
7th. I assert that the company never furnished a gun or round of
ammunition to a colonists beyond those in the immediate empolyment
of the company as agents surveyors &c.
8th Tho company through its agents charged tho colonists from
eight to twenty dollars each for worthless certificates of their right to
land as colonists which were unauthorized and unrecognized bylaw;
and thereby committed a faudulent speculation on an honest people
who were confiding in them as their protectors and advisers in rela-
tion to their landed interests.
9th. The company continued to prosecute their surveying after the
expiration of the contract in 1848 and have now presented to the
General Landoffice a map containing a large number of surveys mark-
ed'on it which if now made were not made on the 1st day of July
1848 ; and are therein perpetrating a fraud upon the country.
10th. The company's agents were engaged as late as the latter part
of the summer 1850 two years after the expiration of the contract in
proving up lists of colonists as introduced and settled by thn company
for the purpose of extending their showing as to the number of colon-
ists introduced by them ; thus in this way perpetrating a fraud upon
the State. I make this statement on the authority of Mr. Lloyd the
county clerk of Denton county before whom two lis's were proven
up after he went into office by virtue of his election on the 1st of
August 1850.
llth. I assert that if the company's returns now iu the State De-
partment show that they have complied with the terms of the con-
tracts that those returns were procured by the basest of wholesale
fraud and perjury; and. I assert further that no man can be found in
the Peters' Colony whether colonist or not who will deny the truth
of the foregoing proposition unless it might be the company's agents
or their attacMs about whom I could not venturo an opinion.
12th The company returned as colonists men and families who never
lived in the colony.
13th Tho company returned as colonists persons living in the colony
on old surveys made before the date of the first colony contract who
wore not entitled to land as colonists who did not claim land as colo-
nists who did not authorize the return of their names as colonists
and who never knew they were returned as colonists until-they learn-
ed of the fact from the company's returns at Austin.
14lh The company represent surveys on their map now on file in
the General Land Office which never were made.
vvjll either the South-Westeru or "the power behind the throne"
deny this? And let it be borne in mind that they base tholr hopes of
success on these veritable returns; and say that they are established
by the oaths of good men and by the acknowledgement qf the colo-
nists. Lot them deny these things und I will point out the names I
allude to and whose oaths and by whose acknowledgements ob-
tained. Let Mr. DeCordova set the Peters' company right before his rea-
ders on this subject before he urges the equity of their demand against
Texas for one million and eighty-eight thousand acres of the ricli and
valuable Inuds of the Peters' Colony and the tying up of a fine terri-
tory one hundred miles wide and one hundred and sixty-four miles
long so that it cannot be settled in or located upouby others for the
space of two years that this ifnholy company may have an exclu-
sive preference during a that time overall that country.
I know the answer which " he that is on tho throne" as well as ho
thut is behind the throne" will make They will point me to tho re-
turns in the State Department nnd say that there is the acknowledge-
ments of the colonists themselves as well as the affidavits of good aud re-
spectable men. But I wish you to bear in mind that the truth of
those returns is the very question at issue is that upon which all of
the company's equity depends ; that I now offer to disprove their
truth by my own statement if that will be taken and if that should
not be accepted by Mr. DeCordova or the " power behind the throne"
then by the affidavits of any convenient number of citizens whose
veracity cannot bo doubted or questioned to a statement of facts sus-
taining what I have said nnd wholly inconsistent with a compliance
by tho company with tho contracts in any one important particular.
lt propose tp take this responsibility and trouble upon myself for two
reasons. 1st. That J may vindicate tho character of my adopted State
against tho constantly implied slander pressed by Mr DeCordova that
the company wero entitled to tho land jhey claim nnd that the State
has done them injustice by withholding it. And 2d. For the purpose
of placing truth on this important subject before the country that
the right of the colonists themselves may not be prejudged iu any
controversy they may have to go into with the company in tho courts
by tno laise assumptions oi trie American and that tho Legislature
may not again be misled and deceived by that paper or any ofthe oth-
er instruments tlrat wore Used at this place last winter. Aro theso the
facts Mr DeCordova boasts Ins facilities for knowing 1
' I have said this much to show tho want of equity in the claim of
the Peters' company. A passing word now as tP their legal rights.
"I hrri apprised 'that1 tlmugh tho'passage'ofithe act pf tho 10th bf Febi
ruary last on this siibjebt m'ay'lidVeucen procured 'by frnud'and misrerit
i resentation tho courts will not on that account feel the less bound by the
law ; that as a matter of expediency they will not go behind the
law and enquire whether its passage was piocured by fraud. X
have only presented the foregoing view to show that the company
have no equity to sustain their claim but must rely on the legal rights
confered by that law.
The 2d section of tho Ordinance adopted by the convention which
formed tho State constitution is as follows ; " Bo it further ordained
that tho Legislature is horeby restrained from extending any contract
for the settling of a colony and from relieving tany contractor from
the failure of tho conditions or tho forfeiture accruing from non-
compliance with tho contract." This Ordinance after being adopted
by the convention was along with tho constitution submitted to a
vote of the people nnd was by them adopted with almost entire
unanimity. It is therefore ono of tho organic acts of tho people of
this State adopted by them in their aggregate capacity as citizens and
can only be repealed by the people acting in the same capacity. It
constitutes a part of the organic law and is beyond the reach of tho
Legislature and consequently places it out of the power of theLegisIa-
ture to pass a law which will bo enforced by the courts contravening its
provisions. If this be true tho act of the 10th of February "rela-
ting to lands in Peters' colony" if it bo a " relief of tho contractors-
from the failure of the conditions or the forfeiture accruing from a
non-compliancoWith tho contract" is a nulity and confers no right
on the company.
What was tho meaning of the convention when they declared that
no relief should be extended to colony contractors Obviously this i
That they would not violate the obligation of a contract by refusing
to the contractors the right to go on to the fulfillment of their con-
tracts ; but that the Legislature should not relieve them from a non-
complyance with the existing conditions of their contracts; and if
they failed to comply with those conditions and thereby failed to get
titles to the land they oluimsd under them it should not bo iu the
power of a future Legislature to pass a law by which they should get
titles. For what was the law of the 10th of February passed 1 Tho
answer must be to do what had not been done in view of a fulfill-
ment of the contract to give the company titles to the land they claim-
ed. I hold that if the company do not obtain their titles under the con-
tract they cannot get them in any other way and that therefore so
much of that law as aims to confer title on them is a nulity ; and that
under the same Ordinance if the company has failed to obtain titles
by a failure'to comply with the contract that it was the duty of tho
Legislature to secure to the colonists the lands to which they wero
entitled by virtue of the law of 1841. the joint resolution of 1843
the contracts and the Ordinance of the convention. If the company
had complied with the contract why the necessity of iuturo Legisla-
tion ? They may answer for the sake of avoiding litigation. If they
had complied with the contract neither litigation or legislation would
have been required ; and in any event their title would have been
good ; and why yield up their chance for good titles under the con-
tract if they had complied with it and accept void titles under an un-
constitutional act of the Legislature in their stead 1 This is the view
in part which I take of the ' legal rights" of the company ; but as the
IJditor of the South-Western's " veiled knight" speaking through him
understands these " legal rights" better than I do I leave this subject
here aud await further illuminationsfrom that quarter.
2d. Having disposed of tho first proposition I wish now to pay my
respects to the " indefatigable " agent of the company ; and to ex-
amine into the " good reasons " which the editor of the South-Western
American has " to believe that the action of the agent in making
his returns and his necessary correspondence with the public officers
will show conclusively that the contractors have not the slightest ob-
jection to the locations and claims made by the colonists and filed in
his office and arc perfectly willing and anxious that patents should
issue to each and every colonist for whatever he has filed upon."
This is kind and generous indeed and by whoever written was no
doubt authorized by the agent Mr. Hedgcoxe as it corresponds fo
faithfully with the following extract from his report accompanying his
returns to the Commissioner of the General Land Office of the 4th.
of September instant. Alluding to the colonists he says : " In ma-
king their files every possible facility was furnished them by me and
in no instance was any objection or impediment interposed to the
colonists in locating or designating their land according to their
wishes."
Let us see how these " good reasons " of the editor on the 8th of
September and this generous kindness and earnest solicitude of Mr.
Hedgcoxe on the 4th of September correspond with the haughty
dictation of this same Mr. Hedgcoxe to the colonists on the 4th of
May last as shown by his own writings and for some time subse-
quent to that as shown by other testimony of a. no less indubitable
character.
In Mr. Iledgcoxe's circular to the colonists dated May 4th 1852
aud printed and generally distributed through the colony about the
time he was entering on his dnties there as agent he says i " To pre-
vent useless applications and unnecessary calls upon the timo of the
agent he will state that he possesses the means of detecting every
certificate fraudulently obtained from the Commissioner Thos. Win
Ward ; whereby persons were admitted to bo colonists who were not
colouists nor entitled to lands and allowing to some colonists more
land than they are justly entitled to. All such are declared by every
law on the subject to be void ; and the holders of them would do well
not to present them nor to attempt in any way to force them upon
the State for acceptance." Under this mandate as the " Black Book "
of the agent's office shows he. proscribed the claims of near four hun-
dred colonists. Thus arrogating to himself the powers of a judicial
officer aud proposing without the authority of law or the interven-
tion of a jury and without giving the right of appeal to adjudicate-
and Summarily to decide upon the rights of colonists who had n due
form of law and upon solemn proof obtained their certificates from
the proper tribunal and from tho judgment of which granting them
their certificates no appeal had been taken. How does this comport
with the above quoted sentence from his report to the Commissioner '
of the General Land Office and with tho generous editorial of tho
South-Western ?
Iu the same circular he says: " By the 10th section of tho act of
February 10th 1852 it is provided that a certain class of colonists
may prove their residence &c before any county court in the colony.
With these the agent has nothing to do; their certificates and field
notes are returnable to the General Land Office alone. The patents
to this class of colonists can only be obtained after the other colonists
and conti actors shall have made all their locations and filed them
in the General Land Office of this State." And this in tho very
face of the same 10th section which says: "upon said certificates
said colonist may locate and survey the land to which ho is thereby
entitled as aforesaid as other colony cc tificates are located agreeably
to the provisions of this act and of the llth section of the same
act" which says: "That each and every colonist who has not
yet located and surveyed his land to whioh as a colonist he or she is
eutitled in said colony either by Ward's certificates or otherwise
shall have the preference over the company until the 4th day of
July 1852 wherein to make their locations and surveys" Thus by
the generous kindness of the agent of the company against law he
attempts to proscribe a second class of claimants in the colony whb
aro provided for by the law under which he was nctin". ' - !
Again in tho same circular Mr Hedgcoxe says : " Tho act of 'the
1st January! 1660 clearly shows -who 'are1 eiititled to dividend!
hums viz : only" .where two'or mora'colonists Imvn Rfittikiimnatlw
same section or fractioncfia6ect'ioni&c.!iojaic none otherivwilll
rnr.nfirt thnt. inriviilnn" fPI. 1 .. .: . r .1 c. . v . r.
..j... . ......t j.u0 xai Dcuiiou ui 1110 act 01 oeptemDcr o
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Brewster, H. P. & Hampton, J. W. Texas State Gazette. (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 4, No. 5, Ed. 1, Saturday, September 18, 1852, newspaper, September 18, 1852; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth81049/m1/4/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.