Juan Cortina
County of Cameron
Camp in the Rancho del Carmen
November 23, 1859
Compatriots:
First. A society is organized in the State of Texas, which devotes itself sleeplessly until the work is crowned with success, to the improvement of the unhappy condition of those Mexicans resident therein; extermination their tyrants, to which end those which compose it are ready to shed their blood and suffer the death of martyrs.
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Second. As this society contains within itself the elements necessary to accomplish the great end of its labors, the veil of impenetrable secrecy covers "The Great Book" in which the articles of its constitution are written; while so delicate are the difficulties which must be overcome that no honorable man can have cause for alarm, if imperious exigencies require them to act without reserve.
Third. The Mexicans of Texas repose their lot under the good sentiments of the governor-elect of the State, General Houston, and trust that upon his elevation to power he will begin with care to give us legal protection within the limits of his powers.
Mexicans! Peace be with you! Good inhabitants of the State of Texas, look on them as brothers, and keep in mind that which the Holy Spirit saith: "Thou shalt not be the friend of the passionate man; nor join thyself to the madman, lest thou learn his mode of work and scandalize thy soul."
(The following editorial appeared in a Brownsville newspaper in response to Cortina's proclamations:)
To the Mexican Inhabitants of the State of Texas:
The arch murderer and robber has been induced by some inflated coxcomb to allow his name to be put to the following balderdash and impudence. We shall not inquire who wrote it, but is certainly no one who has the least acquaintance with American law or character.
We invite the attention of the people abroad to his pretension that the Mexicans of this region (we suppose he means from th4e Nueces to the Rio Grande) "claim the right to expel al Americnas Americans same."
He professes to be the head of a secret society, organized for this object. He claims modestly for his co-villains all the virtues, especially those of greatness, purity, and liveliness of disposition.
This he says of himself and his followers who, after stabbing and shooting into and beating the dead bodies of Mallet and Greer and McCoy, slain in the fight between a portion of his forces and 30 Rangers at Palo Alto, on Sunday last, and after having in like cowardly manner treated his prisoner, young Fox, after he had surrendered his arms when surrounded, descended to such a depth of degradation as to dismember the bodies of the slain in a manner so disgusting as to be too horrible to tell, and then, as does the world but far more Christian Comanche, ornamented their saddle bows with the beastly trophies of their victory.
County of Cameron
Camp in the Rancho del Carmen
November 23, 1859
Compatriots:
First. A society is organized in the State of Texas, which devotes itself sleeplessly until the work is crowned with success, to the improvement of the unhappy condition of those Mexicans resident therein; extermination their tyrants, to which end those which compose it are ready to shed their blood and suffer the death of martyrs.
Third. The Mexicans of Texas repose their lot under the good sentiments of the governor-elect of the State, General Houston, and trust that upon his elevation to power he will begin with care to give us legal protection within the limits of his powers.
Mexicans! Peace be with you! Good inhabitants of the State of Texas, look on them as brothers, and keep in mind that which the Holy Spirit saith: "Thou shalt not be the friend of the passionate man; nor join thyself to the madman, lest thou learn his mode of work and scandalize thy soul."
Brownsville Response:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(The following editorial appeared in a Brownsville newspaper in response to Cortina's proclamations:)
To the Mexican Inhabitants of the State of Texas:
The arch murderer and robber has been induced by some inflated coxcomb to allow his name to be put to the following balderdash and impudence. We shall not inquire who wrote it, but is certainly no one who has the least acquaintance with American law or character.
We invite the attention of the people abroad to his pretension that the Mexicans of this region (we suppose he means from th4e Nueces to the Rio Grande) "claim the right to expel al Americnas Americans same."
He professes to be the head of a secret society, organized for this object. He claims modestly for his co-villains all the virtues, especially those of greatness, purity, and liveliness of disposition.
This he says of himself and his followers who, after stabbing and shooting into and beating the dead bodies of Mallet and Greer and McCoy, slain in the fight between a portion of his forces and 30 Rangers at Palo Alto, on Sunday last, and after having in like cowardly manner treated his prisoner, young Fox, after he had surrendered his arms when surrounded, descended to such a depth of degradation as to dismember the bodies of the slain in a manner so disgusting as to be too horrible to tell, and then, as does the world but far more Christian Comanche, ornamented their saddle bows with the beastly trophies of their victory.