The Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar, Volume II

502

TEXAS STATE LIBRARY

No. 1154

1839 "Mar. 28, H. AUSTIN 'IO M. B. LAMAR, [HOUSTON'}

To His Excellency

MB Lamar

President of the Republic · &c &c &c

Excellent Sir

- , Disposed, as I am to bear testimony in favor of all or any of the active friends of Texas in the hour of her adversity, I beg leave to say to Your E'xcellency, that when I was in New Orleans in the Spring of 1836, (before the battle of San Jacinto,) to meet by appointment, S IF Austin, 1\fr Ellis, (then connected with the Texas Agency,) was one of the most zealous of the friends of Texas, I have not forgotten, that at that gloomy period, Mr Ellis did many times entrap me into public meetings at the rendezvous for the collection of the people, sick as I was, to address them at a late hour of the night, and often, at the call of the assembled people, addressed them most eloquently himself 1\Ir Ellis is an applicant for the office of Consul for the Port of New York, I was told, by Mr Consul Robinson, that James Treat, the man of' all others living best qualified for the office, and better fitted to serve the Republic in :Mexico, than any man I know, he being the- one person who has had tact enough to command the implicit con- fidence of the Mexican chiefs, Santa Ana, Barragan, the Rincons and the rest, and former Consul for Mexico by appointment of Santa Ana, and my secret correspondent on Mexican affairs, had received the appointment to that office, . 1\Ir Ellis informs me that my friend Treat is at the point of death- Should it be the pleasure of God so to dispose of him, I say freely to your Excellency that I know of no early friend of Texas better qualified to fill, or more deserving of the office than Mr Ellis. Your Excellency is fully aware of my repugnance to saying one word on the subject of appointments to office Yet a sense of duty compels me to bear my testimony, when called upon, in favor of those friends of the Texan Cause whom I have seen active and .Zealous in the, dark hour I have the honor to subscribe myself Your Excelleucys Most humble Servant Henry Austin. [rubricJ Houston City March 28 1839

[Endorsed]

Henry Austin 28th. Mch 1839 Recommending Ellis as Consul to New York-

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