Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/175

Rh 1827, with General Manuel Mier y Teran as its chief, to ascertain the boundary line between the Mexican and American republics under the treaty of 1819. Teran then had an opportunity of observing the giant springing up in that portion of his country. He went as far as Laredo and San Antonio de Béjar, and examined nearly the whole of that region. Austin's colonists were almost all Americans, and of the same nationality were those who in 1826 settled the western line of the Colorado and Nueces. For this reason the American government and people became the more anxious for the acquisition of Texas, which was made manifest in various ways; namely, by offers to purchase, by throwing obstacles in the way of the treaty of limits to delay its becoming effective, and by attempting to extend the boundary of Louisiana beyond the Sabine River.

The impression had meantime been gaining ground in Mexico that there was serious danger of a disruption of Texas from the republic. Indeed, there were divers good reasons for that apprehension, the chief being the class of population, with its manners and customs, language, religious toleration, and love of liberty. The conquests of industry and