Signed by Two Staunch Enemies of Texas

258.     LÓPEZ DE SANTA-ANNA, Antonio & José María Tornel y Mendívil. Signed manuscript (15 lines) regarding the military services of Agustín Iglesias, autographed and with rubrics of Santa-Anna and Tornel, on paper engraved at top with large, dramatic Mexican eagle and elaborate lettering: Años de mil ochocientos cuarenta y dos y cuarenta y tres sello sesto dos pesos. Antonio López de Santa-Anna. Benemérito de la Patria, General de División, Presidente Provisional de la República Mexicana, dated at Palacio del Gobierno Nacional en Tacubaya, October 3, 1843. 4 pp., folio folder (42.8 x 27.6 cm) on pale blue paper, written on p. [1], brief manuscript file note and ink-stamped seal with Mexican eagle on p. [4]. Creased where formerly folded, one tiny hole at center (not affecting any letters), minor chip at right blank margin, overall a fine document, signed in full and with rubrics by two important players in Texas and Mexican history. With the document is an excellent nineteenth-century print of a young, dynamic General Santa-Anna in full military uniform riding a dashing steed against the backdrop of a vast, mountainous landscape. A handsome document and portrait worthy of Santa-Anna’s highest pretensions.

     Antonio López de Santa-Anna Pérez de Lebrón (1794-1876), soldier and five-time president of Mexico, served in Texas against the Gutiérrez-Magee expedition and at the battle of Medina in 1813, against the filibustering expedition of Francisco Xavier Mina in 1817, and most notably in 1836 in his controversial role in the Texas Revolution and defeat at San Jacinto. José María Tornel y Mendívil (1789-1853)—a man reputed to be more like Santa-Anna than even the dictator himself—acted as minister to the United States from 1829 to 1831, published a work on relations of Texas and the U.S. with Mexico in 1837 (Fifty Texas Rarities 18 & Streeter 932), and served as minister of War and Navy during all administrations of Santa-Anna. Tornel was firmly convinced that the United States would, in all probability and under whatever pretext, attempt to take not only Texas but also other Mexican territories, such as California and New Mexico. He believed so deeply that Anglos should be kept from Mexican possessions that at one point in the early 1830s he even stopped issuing permits for new colonists in Texas. After the decisive battle of San Jacinto and Santa-Anna’s admission of defeat and recognition of Texas, Tornel refused to recognize Texas’ independence and organized an army to reinvade Texas.