“I am afraid this is a subject on which we will always disagree, old friend. Let us talk of more pleasant things. Let us talk of Mexico and better times.”

Díaz lifted his glass in salute. “To Mexico, where at last I will see no more Americans.”

“To Mexico, and to the constitution. When it is restored there will be no more fighting, no need for rebellion.”

Díaz sipped, then raised his glass again. “To Santa Anna, who will restore the constitution.”

Zaragosa hesitated, only reluctantly joining the toast. “To Santa Anna. May he be a man of his word, a man devoted to freedom and justice, and not simply another Bustamante.”

Zaragosa’s attitude caught Díaz by surprise. “Do you doubt him, my lieutenant? They say he is a great patriot.”

“But a patriot to what? To Mexico, or to himself?” Zaragosa finished his wine and stared absently through the open window where sunshine lay warm and benevolent over his ripening fields. “If he is only for himself, as so many others have been, I tremble for Mexico. I tremble for Texas.”

THE PEACE which followed Mexía’s withdrawal of troops was a happy illusion which would not long endure. That fall Andrew Lewis was called to attend a San Felipe convention representing the Texas settlements to appraise existing conditions and suggest improvements. Of the three Lewis brothers, he was considered most likely to sit still for such a session. The restless Michael would probably only stray off somewhere looking for country he had never seen. James was considered still too young and unsettled to ponder with seriousness the affairs of state. Andrew was the statesman, the one most likely to see all sides of a problem and find a path toward settlement agreeable to all parties.

Though conceived with good intentions, the convention planted new seeds of mistrust that would eventually flower into conflict. Such a convention was typically American but contrary to Mexican custom. That the Mexican town of San Antonio de Bexar failed to send delegates might have been recognized as a portent of the reaction in Mexico itself, had the convention been inclined toward that sort of introspection.

Andrew was not surprised to find a considerable division of opinion. A faction largely of the newer Texans talked independence among themselves but did not submit such a radical notion to a vote. The more conservative old settlers, including himself, favored accommodation with Mexico under the original constitution. They named a committee to write a resolution asking Mexico to rescind the anti-immigration law of 1830, which had been largely ignored after the first months but under which later immigrants were considered illegal and not entitled to citizenship. They also asked for lower tariffs on certain necessities and for the creation of a school fund.

The thorniest issue was a request that Texas be given statehood separate from Coahuila. Though opposed by some of the old settlers, it won majority approval. Andrew cast a vote in favor but wondered how it would fare with Mexican politicians to whom even such a convention itself smacked of rebellion.