15
P ,\PER OF MrR.\BE.\lT BuoNAPARTE L.\MAR
me to declare independence and neutrality and to do whatever else I might deem expedient. The following difficulty then presented itself. The President of the Council came to me, stating that the people and troops requested that the prisoners be surrendered to them for judgment and punishment in just retaliation of the blood of the best patriots which they had caused to be hed in every conceivably cruel way. I answered that it ap- peared to me to be a very hard thing; that it would be well to punish ·uch criminal men, but with the formality of trying them fir t. As soon a they heard thi , they exclaimed that I must surely want to do what efior ...'imenes had done· namely, to set them free in order that they mio-ht make another counter-revolution as they had done formerly when they made rivers of blood flow, but that if I persisted in defending them, even the women and children would fall upon me and teat· me to pieces. "Wl:len I heard this threat from the mo11th of the President, I took the precaution to send my secretary to communi- cate this information to the American officers who had charge of the pri oners. Their first decision was not to surender them in that-way, hut after learning of the danger which th.reatened, they sent me word that they wi hed to surrender them and asked me if I would give them a certificate to the effect that they had neither done it nor had any part in it. The fourteen individuals who ·were sacrificed to their judgment were then delivered over. On the sixth the independence of the State of ·Tcxa was olemnly declared. 16 Neutrality "·ith all nations was declared· free trade with nll friendly nations was recognized; the duties to be paid the State for the importation of merchandise by land or ea were levied; and all freemen of all nation except Spain were permitted to enter the tate. of Texas. All this was circulated in the public newspapers of the United States and from there it was circulated throughout the world. After I had done all this to the be t of my limited ahility, I decided to have a division made rc-ady to march upon the other provinces at once for the purpo e of taking the principal points and of gaining possession of all their resources, in order to secure forever this great and valuable part of the kingdom, and fo1· the further purpose of opening communication-immediately with the generals who were said to be operating in the interior to see or find out if they had formed ome government with which I should communicate and from which I should receive orders, to the end that we might unite and make our government strong and respected. ( p to that time I had received communications from all the garrisons in ·all.parts of the provinces, which offered me their services and implorecl,:me to send ~ division soon with which they might unite or to which-they might surrender their arms if I should so order). The troops which were to go got ready. I gave instructions in writing to the officer in command of the division, and when they were on the point of departing, it seemed that the principal officer of the Anglo-American troops opposed this meas- ""A "hasty translation" ot this declaration of independence was published In Niles Reoister, IV, 313; but it is there stated that the declaration wa11 dated .April (.
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