58
TEXAS STATE LIBRARY
On taking possession of this place(which he did without opposi- tion)the first thing to which our hero directed his attention was the establishment of Civil government.-A "Supreme Co,wncil" was elected, invested with unlimited and controlling powers of legisla- tion. The Council was to be composed of twenty one members; but from some cause unknown to the writer, eleven only were- chosen-to wit-Horatio Biglow, Hamlin Cook, W. W. Walker, Stephen Barker, John Sibley (of Nachitoches) S. Davenport, John G. Burnett, J. Childs, Pedro Procello and Jose Bernardo Gutierres. The two last mentioned were Mexicans of liberal principles, who signified their acceptance of the station; but never attended the Sessions. The reader will recognise in Gutierrez the implacable avenger whose carreer we have just noticed. After being despoiled of his command by the Americans at San Antonio, he retired to New-Orleans where he abided in credit and respectabliity until 1819, when he enrolled himself in the enterprise of General Long. He was not in a situation to render much assistance to the cause, having already expended his fortune, which was once considerable, in the servise of his country; but the open espousal of the enterprise and his readiness to share its dangers, was an evidence of his continued attachment to the principles of liberty, and his unabated hostility to the tyrannical domination of Spain. (In 182-he returned to his native country; and very soon after his arrival in Tamaulpas was elected Governor of that State by the Legislature which was then in Session. He accepted the station with reluctance and re- tained it but a few months. He says of himself, that although he had acquired by experience and suffering some knowledge of the military art, he had no particular qualifications for civil employ- ment. His brief administration, however, was such as to obtain from the Legislature that elected him a very flattering letter in his favor, addressed to the General Government of Mexico, recom- mending the old veteran to the kind consideration of the public authorities; for he was now poor, and it was proper that he should receive some rumuneration for the past. It is not generally known, that it was during the short time he was Governor of Tamaulipas, that Iturbede was executed; and mainly by virtue of his influence and authority. ·while others were vasilating about the act doubting the propriety of taking the life of so eminent a personage without first consulting !he national Congress, he gave the fiat, and the deed was done.-Gutierrez was an iron man; prone to violince and full of prejudic~; but _beyond all doubt a hero and a patriot; and in the walks of private hfe was always regarded as an honest citizen and a good neighbor. His birth and death was in the town of Guerrero.)* General Long was chosen President of the Council. The· body convened on the 22nd of June eighteen hundred and nineteen• and on the succeedin~ day declared the province a free and Inde'. pendent Republic. 6 G Various laws were now enacted for the organi- *Thls notice o! Bernardo & other matters concerning him will appear in another place. [Note In document.] eGAn extract !rom Long's declaration will be found in Niles Register, 17. 31. Sept. 11, 1819.
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