145
PAPERS OF MIRABEAU BuoNAPARTE LAMAR
the Bee of the 26th, in. which I cited the letter addressed by me to 1\Ir. de Zavalla, a few days anterior to the meeting, and I remarked: '' It is possible that as I am a sexagenarian, my services may have been considered useless. This however would have been a gross error, for I believe that I can wield a sabre quite as well as another. . At all events, I have no difficulty in respecting prejudices, which however ridiculous they may be, do not wound my honour. Nor can they diminish the satisfaction I experienced for having acted upon this ·occasion as a sincere friend of liberty should ever act. Besides I see no obstacle to my serving the cause of Texas in other modes, &c." Let the following facts prove my consistency with myself. On the 14th November of the same year a proclamation of the governor of Louisiana was published, dated the 13th, prohibiting the enlisting of citizens of the State, and all direct or indirect co- operation with foreign service by sea or by land, under the penalties threatened in the act of Congress of the 20th April, 1818. Con- sidering the measures contemplated in this act both .inimical to Texas, and inapplicable to the actual crisis, I examined and refuted them in the Bee of the 15th in a legal point of view, and as my obser- vations were copied in different papers in the Union, it is highly probable that they contributed greatly to increase the number of American volunteers, that rushed to the defense of the Colony. Towards the end of the year 1835, at which period the Texians were in possession of the Alamo, which had been surrendered by Cos, the Mexican general, I received a visit from Mr: Thomas D. Owings, formerly colonel in the 18th regiment of the United States infantry, who was introduced to me by 1\lr. Holberstadt, a gentleman residing in my house. The colonel informed me that he was aware of my decided partiality to the cause of the people, of my long military experience, and of the extent of my knowledge respecting l\Iexico and the 1\fexicans; in consequence of which, he had determined to consult me upon the best plan of defence for the Texians during the war in which they ,vere engaged; and that, intending to leave the next day for Kentucky, bearing with him a commission to raise fifteen hundred volunteers for Texas, he took the liberty of request- ing me to sketch upon paper, as briefly as possible, the plan of defence in question, and likewise to mention the equipments and weapons best adapted for his volunteers, that they might n~ither want the necessaries for that campaign, nor be overloaded with superfluities. Yielding willingly to his entreaties, I promised on the day following to give him my views, which I did: I received his thanks; he left me, and I have never since heard his name. 1\Iy plan was absolutely prophetic. "If, said I, yon persist in keeping possession of the Alamo, in place of destroying not only the Alamo, but all the fortresses that exist upon the Gulf coast, and in the interior to the south of the Colorado, which alone may become useful to the invader in case he should require repose, or may expect reinforcements, you are lost: numerous irresistible forces will attack you in detail, and you will perish by assassination. Imitate the Russians and Cossacks in the French invasion of 1812. l\Iaintain carefully the divisions of your little army in easy communicatiou with each other, and only seek the enemy in order to entice him'to
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