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was composed of a high-steward, twenty-four principal 

 burgesses, including in that number two bailiffs and the 

 recorder ; and there were besides several minor officers, 

 and four justices for the borough. The appointment of 

 twenty-four assistant burgesses was directed by the go- 

 verning charter of William III., but none had been elected 

 for many years prior to the passing of the Municipal Cor- 

 poration Reform Act. The twenty-four burgesses were 

 elected by the bailiffs and burgesses out of the burgesses 

 at large. The annual income of the old corporation did 

 not exceed 22/., and in 1828 it was in debt to the amount 

 of GOOOl. The sum of 2000/. was advanced by the recorder, 

 and the property of the corporation conveyed to him, on 

 which the creditors were paid G*. Sd. in the pound. Quarter- 

 sessions for the borough are held, and there is a court for 

 the recovery of debts under 50/. 



Tewkesbury is said to be of Saxon origin, and to derive 

 its name from Theot, a Saxon, who founded an hermitage 

 here in the seventh century. Early in the eighth century 

 two brothers, dukes of Mercia, founded a monastery, which, 

 in the tenth century, became a cell to Cranbourn Abbey 

 in Dorsetshire. In the twelfth century Robert FitzHaimon 

 enlarged the buildings and liberally endowed the institu- 

 tion, in consequence of which the monks of Cranbourne 

 made Tewkesbury the chief seat of their establishment. At 

 the dissolution the abbey belonged to the Benedictines, 

 and its annual revenue was 1598/. A great battle was 

 fought on the 14th of May, 1471, within half a mile of 

 Tewkesbury, when the Lancastrians sustained a most dis- 

 astrous defeat, and both Queen Margaret and her son Prince 

 Edward were taken. The town was successively in the 

 hands of the royalists and parliamentarians at the com- 

 mencement of the civil war ; but in 1644 it was taken by 

 the latter, and held until the close of the war. 



The town principally consists of three good streets, well- 

 built, with a number of smaller ones branching from them. 

 According to the census of 1831, the population amounted 

 to 5780. The principal manufacture is the cotton and 

 lambs'-wool hosiery. In 1810 the number of stockiiiLT- 

 frames in the town was 800 : and in 1833 there were 600. 

 The wages averaged 12*. in the former year, and 7s. in the 

 latter. The number of men, aged 20 and \ipwards, em- 

 ployed in the stocking manufacture in 1831 was 300 (Pup. 

 cv . and 44 were engaged in the lace manufacture. 

 Nail-making formerly employed a considerable number, 

 but in 1833 there were only 50 persons so occupied. (Man. 

 < "'irii. /i'</;'/r/\. Tewkesbury was and is still the centre of 

 an extensive carrying-trade on the Severn and Avon ; but 

 the improvement of the navigation of the Severn to Glou- 

 crster, by means of a ship-canal, is said to have been in- 

 jurious to Tewkesbury, and- to the improved means of in- 

 tercourse with other towns in the same district is also 

 ascribed some decline in the attendance at the corn-market. 

 The iron bridge across the Severn, which opened a com- 

 munication with Hereford and Wales, counterbalances on 

 the other hand the effects of the above-mentioned im- 

 provements. There is a branch railway from Tewkesbury 

 rather more than two miles in length, which joins the Bir- 

 mingham and Gloucester Railway. The collegiate church 

 of the antient monastery is now the parish church. It is 

 a noble and venerable structure, in the early Norman style, 

 and consists of a nave, choir, and transepts, with a tower 

 using from the centre, supported on massive and lofty piers 

 with circular arches. The roof is finely groined and carved. 

 There are several antient chantry chapels in the east end 

 of the choir, which is hexagonal. Some of the monuments 

 are in memory of persons who fell at the battle of Tewkes- 

 bury". The living is a vicarage, of the gross annual value of 

 376/. A new church was opened in 1837. All the principal 

 denominations of dissenters have places of worship. There 

 i^ a grammar-school with an endowment of 52'. a year. The 

 master is appointed by the corporation. When the corpora- 

 tion comniiMoncrs visited Tewkesbury in 18a3, the master 

 was a clergyman and one of the borough justices, and for 

 many years the school had not been attended by more than 

 three or four pupils. In 1833 there were, besides the above, 

 and two boarding-schools, 12 daily schools in the parish, 

 attended by 6'l7 children, and several Sunday-schools, at 

 which 588 children were instructed. The national school is 

 f.artly supported by an antient endowment for the instruc- 

 tion of 20 children, and a Lancasterian school is dependent 

 on voluntary contributions. There are almshouses for 10 

 poor persons and several medical and other charities of com- 



paratively recent date. The town-hall was built in 178G : 

 the upper part contains an assembly-room and a hall for 

 meetings of the corporation ; and the lower part is appro- 

 priated to the borough courts. A gaol, house of correction, 

 and penitentiary were erected under a local act passed in 

 1812. The market-house is a handsome building, with Doric 

 columns and pilasters supporting a pediment in front. There 

 is a small theatre and public library and news-room. The 

 town is paved, lighted, and watched under a local act passed 

 in 1786. The market-days are Wednesday and Saturday : the 

 former for corn, sheep, pigs, &c. ; and the latter for poultry 

 and provisions. There are fairs in March, April, May, 

 June, September, October, December ; and a statute fair at 

 Michaelmas. 



(Dyde's Hist, of Teu-hesbury ,- Pop. Returns, 1831 ; Re- 

 ports of Ecclesiastical Commissioners and of the Muni- 

 cipal Corporation Commissioners, &c. &c.) 



TEXAS. Since the publication of the article on Mexico 

 [MEXICAN STATES, THE UNITED], Texas, which was then 

 merely an insurgent province of that republic, has been 

 recognised as an independent state by the leading powers 

 of Europe and America. A succinct statement of the 

 revolution by which this change has been effected is ne- 

 cessary. 



A decree of the Constituent Cortes of Mexico, dated 7th 

 May, 1824, declares that Texas shall be annexed to Coa- 

 huila until it possess the elements necessary to the forma- 

 tion of a separate state ; but that as soon as it shall possess 

 these elements, the connection is to be dissolved, and a 

 separate state-constitution given to Texas. 



At the time when this decree was published, Texas pro- 

 bably^did not contain 4000 inhabitants of the European 

 race.* The district of Bexar, which in 1806 contained 

 6400 colonists from Mexico, was found in 1835 to contain 

 only 3400 of that class, scattered over the settlement of 

 San Antonio, the missions, and frontier military posts ; and 

 this process of depopulation had reached its lowest ebb 

 for some time before the latter date. In the districts of 

 Brazos and Nacogdoches there were, in 1824, no inhabit- 

 ants of European descent, except at the military posts. 



The government of Mexico had made efforts, both while 

 the country was a Spanish colony, and after the recognition 

 of its independence, to promote the settlement of Texas 

 by the Empressario system of colonization, i.e. by granting 

 tracts of land to individuals, who were to forfeit the grant 

 unless they settled a specific number of colonists on them 

 within a limited period. In furtherance of this policy, 

 permission was given by the supreme government of the 

 eastern internal provinces, on the 17th of January, 

 1821, to Moses Austin, by birth a citizen of the United 

 States, to introduce into Texas from Louisiana 300 families, 

 ' being Catholics, or agreeing to become so on entering the 

 Spanish territory,' and also agreeing to take the oath of 

 allegiance to the crown of Spain ; and a tract of land in 

 the vicinity of the Brazos river was granted them to settle 

 upon. Some difficulties arose from the disturbed political 

 state of Mexico at that time ; but in 1824 colonising ope- 

 rations were begun by Stephen, the son of Moses Austin 

 (his father having died in the interim) ; and on the 24th 

 of March, 1825, a colonization law for Coahuila and Texas 

 was promulgated. In the course of 1825 and 1826, seven 

 more Empressario grants were made, and the parties ob- 

 taining them became bound to introduce about 2000 

 foreign families, under the same conditions as had been 

 prescribed to the Austins. 



Under these grants the colonising of Texas from the 

 United States proceeded with such rapidity, that in 1835 

 Colonel Almonte, a commissioner of the Mexican govern- 

 ment, reported the population of the province to be as 

 follows: In Bexar, 4000 inhabitants of European origin, 

 of whom 3400 were Spanish Mexicans and 600 Irish 

 settlers ; in Brazos, 8000, of whom 1000 were negroes, 

 almost exclusively colonists from the United States ; in 

 Nacogdoches, 9000, of whom 1000 were negroes, also An- 

 glo-American colonists. In addition to these, Texas con- 

 tained about 15,000 Indians, of whom 4000 were friendly 

 to the European race and 11,000 hostile. About 10,000 

 of the hostile Indians haunted the district of Brehar, the 

 rest were scattered over the district of Brazos. The 

 Mexican commissioner remarked in his report that the 

 part of Texas which presented the greatest difficulties to 

 travellers was that which lay between the frontiers of 

 Coahuila and San Antonio de Bexar: the province was 



