Monday, April 28, 2014
Jose Francisco Ruiz advises Antonio Navarro to not serve in the Senate.
In
April of 1835, a year before Texas Independence, Jose Antonio Navarro
was offered a seat in the Mexican Senate being reformed under Santa
Anna's centralist rule. It came with a hefty salary of 10,000 pesos a
year. He wrote to his uncle Jose Francisco Ruiz for advice. This was
his reply. “My nephew, you know me well enough to excuse any preambles
on my part to the decision you wish me to make.
I will give you my advice in a few words, remembering the favorite
expression of your worthy father, Bread is Bread, Wine is Wine. The die
is cast, and in a few months will begin the revolution that will forever
separate Texas from the Republic of Mexico. I feel a lump in my throat
when I say this. I spent the flower of my life and freely shed my
blood for the Independence of Mexico, and I would willingly do so again,
though I am now old, could I see any evidence that unfortunate Mexico
was capable of governing herself, or upholding the honor of her flag and
her nationality; but I have lost all hope of remedy, and see nothing in
the future but her inevitable ruin and degradation. I have military
honors (you know it well), and receive a pension from the Government of
Mexico. I will lose it all rather than go to Mexico and unite myself to
the ranks of that oppressive army. Do not go to the Senate of Mexico,
for you will only go to assist in quenching the dying embers of Mexican
liberty; let us rather stay in Texas, and throw in our lot with our
native State."
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