81
PAPERS OF MIRABEAU BUONAPARTE LAMAR
Cook, Vv alker, Barker, Martin, Taylor, Purnell, Procello, Gutierres and Rodrigues. Johnson returned and joined them on the first of Augu'st. After their organnzation, the first thing they did was to appoint a Committee to examine the record of 1819, and report Q_n the question, whether the p,:esent shall be considered a new Govern, ment or a continuation of the one commenced at Nacogdoches. Biglow, as chairman of the Committee reported, that the "Supreme Council" at Nacogdoches, chosen by popular election, had declared the Independence of the Republic on the 23rd of June 1819 - that said Council, since that period had held various Sessions '' and that various laws and ordinances have been passed by virtue of its au- thority, and that divers military and civil officers have been ap- pointed under its· sanction, who have continued, in and out of the Republic, in the uninterrupted exercise of their functions, whilst the citizens of the Republic have remained firm and faithful in their allegiance to the same." This report being accepted by the body, the conclusion was that there had been no interregnum in the gov- ernment; and that the present council was but a continuation of the former one. A ReS:solution was then adopted declaring vacant the seats of those members of the old council who should not resume their duties during the present year, and providing for the election of others to fill their vacancies. , ·The most interesting transaqtion, however, of this period is the one which we are about to relate. We allude to the tender of the chief command of the enterprise to General Ripley. The two letters which we shall presently insert - the one announcing the appoint- ment; and the other in reply to the same- will be found to contain all the information necessary upon the particular. If the reader would have his curiosity indulged beyond this, he must allow us to refer to a document which is no longer in our possession. On a former occasion we examined the few remaining papers of our hero, and made various extracts from them, with a view of preparing some such a sketch of his carreer as the one we are now engaged in. Two documents were then before us, which have since beell either mislaid or destroyed. One of them was an interesting, but dispond- ing letter from Horatio Biglow to General L'Ong announcing his in- tention to withdraw from the enterprise, and advising the General to obtain a commission on authority from some of the South- . American Republics, for the further prosecution of his plans, be- lieving that some other flag than his own was necessary to legalize his operations and to render them acceptable to the people of the United States. The other document, was part of the records of the Supreme Council 'Containing the proceedings of that body upon the --<.e~y matter which is now before us. The information, however, which it afforded was not very copious nor very material. It rep- resented the Supreme Council as being in-secret Session upon a confidential Communication form General Long. The communica- tion was referred to a Committee, which reported upon it, in the following terms-to wit- "that the Council highly approve the meas- ures adopted by the President to engage in the service of the Re- public, an eminent General and Jurist now resident in the United
6-L!brary.
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