221
PAPERS OF MIRABEAU·BuoNAPARTE. LAMAR
before the proper tribunal, and claim for me a part of that con- sideration and dispassionate hearing which, I trust I have somewhat of a right to claim of the Government of Texas. Some time in last July I shiped a few odds and ends, part goods, part furniture &c &c the balance saved from the wreck of of f sic] my affairs in New Orleans. the goods were shiped in the schooner I,ouisiant and owing to the ignorance of a custom-House being established at this place and the hurry attending the shipment they were miscalled in the bill of lading, but they were correctly entered on the export manifest. For Instance; a large box of pistols with a few caps and eight or ten powder flasks, and a small one with some paper, shovel & T'ongs and a few other articles of little or no value were entered in the bill of lading as "Kitchen furniture" and two casks containing, Braces &·bitts chissels gauges, belts, screws, hinges, doorlocks &c &c were marked '' Carpenter's Tools & Materials for building'' I thought to go out in the La. :Myself but was prevented . I had therefore to request a Mr Ayres of New Orleans-to·see the goods landed & stored until I would arrive he however instead of placing them in the public stores made an affidavit as to the contents & placed them in the hands of a consignee all this he should not have done. Pistols that were free by law and articles of furniture that I have used are now seized and with exultation and triumph are placarded all around for sale on the 9th October next. As I have already obesrved the two casks and two boxes contained a medley of things · and it was actually impossible to express them on a bill of lading. I called at the custom I-rouse and tried to reason with them. I pointed out to them the fact that it could not have been guilt but hurry that wd. mark a valuable box of pistols which were free, so that they could be liable to seizure, that the goods were in my own possession four days & nights and if I really intended to defraud the excise I wd. surely not have let them remain in the same cask, mark & nmber as they were imported, but all to no purpose. I then drew up a few lines to l\fr Fulton a copy 96 of which I have the honour to enclose just as I had finished the original I was shown about a mile out in the bay the collector Mr. Henry Smith and some others persons ,vho were going as I was informed to mouth of the San Antonio River -A thing I requested or rather hoped [was] that the collector wd. give me time to lay the facts of the case before him in writing. So much for the rewards and honours I have recd. of Texas, to support whose cause I have given almost all my substance. I have the Honor to be your Excellency's sincere friend Stuart Perry It ,vd. really seem that there [are] a few here who are determined that my goods shall [be] exposed for sale as forfeited to the country. Among these I presume is the informer who expects half of the profits- This very imperfect scroll I have written on board a flat boat and
00No. 812.
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