151
PAPERS OF MIRABEAU BuoNAPARTE LAMAR
pelled the threatened tempest, and rendered it impossible perhaps for ever, to undertake a "national war" aga,inst Texas. Now permit me, gentlemen, to inquire; has not the ;'Correo Atlan- tico" contributed, perhaps more powerfully than any other journal of the period, to this important and arduous labor? I ha,ve demon- strated that its influence was feared in Mexico even before the war, when it elevated alone the standard of defence of the Texian honor, which had been outraged by the periodicals of the country, until the total ruin and exile of the editor were the consequences. But, in New-Orleans, during the war and subsequently, I did more. I began by offering my sword in the Texian service; I gave plans of defence; I combated the measures of government which tended to deprive the Texians of succour from the l)'nited States; and I undertook finally to conduct the paper, of which I have already given you some idea. I feel it now to be my duty to submit to the consideration of the Congress of the Republic of Texas, the complete collection of the ''Correo Atlantico," from its first number published in :Mexico to the last which appeared in New-Orleans, in order that no proofs of what I have affirmed may be needed. It will be seen by my files that, in addition to my perseverance in defending the Texian independence, and in advocating its recognition by the United States, Iwas cer- · tainly _the only one to conceive the project of putting in a salutary collision the opinions of the Mexica,ns, now censuring the inconsis- tencies of those federalists who desired at the same time the sov- ereignty of the states and the subjugation of Texas; at another time undeceiving the aggressors of Texas with regard to the real moral, political and military merits of their idolized chief; and aga,in ex-, plaining to all parties the folly of a war, in which victory itself would neither crown them with the glory of conquering a powerful enemy, nor secure to them the future possession of the country for which they fought; arguments which being presented in Spanish to a nation upon which no impression can be made unless addressed in its native la,nguage, could not fail to dissipate its hostile enthu- siasm against Texas, and thus to secure the future safety of this young Republic. All scepticism on this subject will disappear when I cite the follow- ing paragraph from the Telegraph and Texas Register of the 2d August 1836: "vVe take extracts from the Correo Atlantico of the 11th ultimo, a paper devoted heart and s011l to our cause, and withoiit exception its most strenuous supporter." The testimony of Messrs. l\Iirabeau B. Lamar, Houston, the brother of the President of the Republic, and other notable citizens, will be questioned still less. These gentlemen having heard in New- Orleans, in my house, and from my lips, the open manifestation of my opinions and feelings with respect to Texas, designed to recom- mend me to address to Congress this humble petition, that it may decree a recompense either in land or in any other form, as your judgment may best decide, and as you may consider consonant with.
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