New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-11-04
Especial Correspondence Of the Republican
OUR SAN ANTONIO LETTER.

The Geu~rat Hatch Anair-Removal Of
Heasaquarters-The Constitutional Con-
= Observation-Disclosures Topics
SAN ANTONIO, October %, 1875.
The General Hatch affair, about which
have kept you 90 thoroughly posted, has
been adjusted, as the saying is, "without
prejudice to the honor of either party"
The position assumed by General Hatch
that the civil authorities have no jurisdic
ton over the forts and posts occupied by
United States troops is not the correct one,
and that was the view of the case that
General Ord took. General Ord went in
person to Fort Clark, and it is but b
legitimate inference to suppose that to him
is due the credit of settling the affair in the
manner it has been settled. General Hatch
gave the required bonds to the sheriff OF
Kinney county for his appe arance to answer
at the next term of the District Court of
that county to any charges that may be
brought against him for resisting an officer,
Snd ~ill psosesA to Brownsville, - sson
ss the court meets thsse, to aBver to the
indictments found against him in tho mo-
table affair near Ringgold Barracks, which
said indictments. in my humble opinion,
amount to nothing at all. In the mean
time, General Hatch has been assigned to
duty at these headquarters, and is already
in our city.
In this matter it will be seen that General
Ord has acted with his usual sound dis
oretion, and 'avertsd a contamination that
would have jeopardized the good feeling
that at present exists between the army and
the citizens. gee a.
San Antonio has been almost continuous
ly the military headquarters for more than
twenty-five years. IL is true that at va
.rious times headquarters have been moved
to Austin, Corpus Christi, Galveston and
other places, but our peculiar geographical
position to the Mexican frontier and to the
Indian frontier, has brought it to pass that
headquarters have always come back to US
again. San Antonio was not used by the
United States forces as headquarters during
the four years from 1861 to 1865, but you
probably know there was good reason for
oSiOOthb6 oOAtO oohoA PhASS'f ASoAoAo WV "es@
the relations between the citizens and the
officers were Of the most intimate and cor
dial character. In those days, Junius
Palmer, Gordon Granger, and a dozen
other gentlemen, whose names are not un-
known to fame, were the frequent guests OF
our older citizens Among the officers sta
toned at San Antonio in those ante-bellum
times, was also General Tomkins, who is at
present on duty here, and who, regret to
say, has been ordered to Louisville, as chief
quartermAster of the Department of the
South; most genial gentleman and efficient
officer. He planned and had much to do
with the location of our frontier line of de-
fenses.
But am strsying from the subject. Al
though the authorities at Washington have
formally accepted the site donated by the city
for the location of the military depot, there
made at Washington to have headquarters
removed to Dallas, or Fort Worth, in North
ern Texas. Already government surveyors
are trying to ascertain the feasibility of
wagon road from Dallas to Fort Concho,
for the purpose of supplying that fort from
Dallas instead of from San Antonio, as is
now the custom. If it is possible to supply
Fort Concho from that point, half dozen
other posts may be likewise thus supplied,
and as the trade from the posts inevitably
follows the government transportation
routes, a heavy blow is sought to be dealt
to the commercial prosperity of this city.
The route from Dallas to Concho is, how
ever, longer than the one to San Antonio,
aud has heretofore been considered imprac.
ticable for trains of wagons, On account of
the scarcity of water. l merely give you
this a. one of the signs of the times.
You will see that nearly all the Texas ps-
pers Of note consider it part Of their mis-
sisn to denounce, ridicule, 'lampoon and III
every other possible way aflict that un-
happy body, now in session at Austin, and
known a. the Constitutional Convention.
There was NO necessity for constitutional
convention in The first place, a. what de-
fects there might be in the constitution
could be legally remedied by amendment;
but the fact that cur present constitution
was formed by Radicals was enough, and
now we are in nice pickle with the present
august body. For more than forty days
and nights it has rained an unceasing
deluge Of rigmsrole at the expense of the
taxpayers, and they have not a. much as
begun tofinker ON the organic law of the
State. The convention is run by the
Grangera, and the way those rural roosters
knock into pi anything that squints toward
tree schools, Immigration, or progress Of
any kind, has to be seen to be believed.
There is only one thing that fills them with
more indignation than resolution favos-
ing immigration, and that il motion t. put
an end, by adjournment, to their drawing
Is per day for making themselves and the
State ridiculous. Thanks to the civiliziDg
influences of the Austin vendors of cheap
shoddy suits of clothes, and the exertions
of the Austin BARRIERS, they present toler-
able appearance, and If they were to re-
frain from discussing questions more intri-
cots than the rcrsps, weather. etc., there 10
NO telling what fine things would be said |
about them; but there is no use expecting
miracles.
Il is true there are some able men among |
them. This district has representatives
that can hold their own anywhere, but they |
are powerless amid the exploding gas-bag |
patriots.
Tn tho pla aso N top fair vhnra Svo vh;to