A Mexican Perspective on the Texas War
An important overview of Texas at a critical moment in its history, written by the Mexican Secretary of War and Marine soon after the decisive Battle of San Jacinto. Tornel argues strongly for a vigorous continuation of the war in Texas. As erstwhile Mexican ambassador to Washington (1829-1832), Tornel was well founded in his prescient warning that the loss of Texas would eventually lead to Mexico's loss of New Mexico and California.
Tornel was certainly alive to the American expansionary drive to reach the Pacific, and gives a solidly informed review of American territorial ambitions for the time.
A worth-while feature of this work is a copy (p. 27-41) of a report on Texas colonization contracts from 1825 to January, 1834, made by Coahuila to the Supreme Government in June, 1834. This list is reprinted from Tornel by Filisola in the Rafael edition (1848-1849) of his Memorias ... Guerra de Tejas, Vol. 1, p. 553-567 - Streeter.
In fact Tornel includes the earliest printing of the complete record of Texas colonization contracts, 1825-34, based on the official report by the Coahuila government to officials in Mexico City in 1834.
Tornel succinctly expressed his fears for Mexico's future: "La perdida de Tejas acarrearia inevitablemente la del Nuevo-Mexico y de las Californias; y poco a poco se iria menoscabando nuestro territorio, hasta quedar reducidos a una espresion insignificante" - page 90.
According to Howell this work is also important for California history:
An important analysis of Mexican-Texan relations. The former Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States from Mexico, General Tornel was at the time this pamphlet was written Secretary of War and Marine. He details all land grants up to 1837, and reports on the American attempts at revolution in California, as well as their various schemes for colonization Mexican territories. He concludes that the Texas war must at all costs be continued, for the loss of Texas would mean also the loss of New Mexico and the Californias.
Rarity
While well represented in institutional confines, this work is quite rare in the market. Howes accorded it a "b" rarity rating (denoting considerable rarity), in his classic 1962 bibliography U.S.iana.