85
PAPERS OF MIRABhu BuoNAPARTE LAMAR
.observe, was to remain stationary, at B~livar Point, itnd wait pii- tiently for the influx of emigrants. It was their ·opinion that he would hot again be interrupted by the Royal Authorities, which had expended all their energies in the campaign of the preceding year. The exhausted condition of. their resources would not allow them to raise another army, or to make any further movement against him; and when it should be once understood in the United States, that he was secure in his position, and capable of protect- ing families coming into the country, it was maintained that the tide of emigration would immediately commence, and settlements in a very short time, would be formed of sufficient strength to pro- tect themselves. It w~ in .this way ~ by the silent and. unresisted introduction of a new population - that they hoped to obtain quiet possession of _the country, without the necessity of a violent .::xpul: sion of the S'panish authorities; which might involve expendtures beyond their. ability .to meet,.:_ , In _opposition to these view~, it was contended by our hero, that emigrants would not come into the country, having no other protection for their families, thaii the small forcei which he marshalled at Boii- var Po.int. They woul(l require greater security than this. To inspire general confidence in the United States, and superinduce to emigra- tion, would demand the presence of a military force at Bolivar Point niore than sufficient for the capture and permanent occupancy of Bexar - a measure which would at once achieve the whole object of the enterprise. To raise such an army and maintain jt in idleness .at Bolivar Point, would be utterly impossible with their limited resources. Soldiers could Iiot be obtained nor controlled under such a system of inactivity; or if this were practicable, the means of sub- sistence would still be wanting. When, however, it should be onc.e known abroad that the war was to be carried into the interior, both men and money would be immediately forth-coming. It would popu- larise the enterprise. ·The sympathies of the American nation and the chivalry of the people would be awakened, and a general interest would be felt for the success and final results of the enterprise. On the contrary, his continuence at Bolivar Point, at the head of a -small garrison and his little Senate, giving laws to the unpopulatr,d regions around him, while the rival power, in the very heart of the -country was waving its despotic scepter over the prostrate inhalii- iants of the country, would not satisfy the just expectations of the public mind; it would not be in harmony with the temper of the i;imes, nor the disposition of the American people; it could not fail to provoke their contempt and ridicule, instead of securing their confidence and cooperation. Under such a system of inaction and -doubtful security, there would be no emigration; and the enterprise, .after languishing a whil~ for the want of resources and animation, ·would finally perish in its unpopularity and poverty. - ' Such were the views and feelings of General Long; and we doubt not the reader will find in the course. of our narra,tive, abundant -reason to believe that, if our hero had been properly sustained in the policy here sketched, there woula. have been no failure to lament, nor .any necessity for this, our humble tribute to his neglected memory.
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