The Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar, Volume I

22

TEX.\S ST.\TE LIBRARY

of obtaining control of 1\Icxican affair . I make no denial of the fac.t that I fell into his snare , and wonld have been destroyed at that time, if the ministers of that government had not saved me frQm ruin by their knowledge of hi unh•er. al reputation as .a: wicked man and likewise by their interest in the advancement of our independence. This is the wny it happened. Toledo, having found out that I was going to tation my elf upon the frontier, and that the minister wished me to wait there a yea1·, came to me and showed me how u cless my trip would be as I had planned it. He said if I was ati fled with his loyalty it was at my serdce; and that he could be \·cry II cful to me and to my nation if I would inform him of the matters with whic}1 I came cntru ted; and he asked me to petition t!!..c 'i\Iini ter of State and of Forei!:!11 Affair to admit him as inv ub. _delegate near that goyernmcnt to look after the affairs of l\fexico with whicl1 I was cliarged and by which I was recognized. Thi plan eemed very good to me, for I was carried away by a desire to haYe the affair of my nation pu bed forward without iutenuption, aud in this way it seemed to me that I could fall in with the :'IIinister 's plan to stay there a year. I immediately wrote a letter to the ?ifin- i ter in which I told him in detail the motive of intcre t which im- pelkd me to·take that step for the admission of 'l'oledo. The next day at the accustomed hour I went to inter,,-iew the Minister and he purposely did not touch on the subject of my petition, evidently in order to afford me a reason for reproaching him, which I did tl1c first chance lie gave me. He replied by walking up to me and patting me on the shouldrr, . aying, '' This Go ernment ha recognized you as a representative of your Tation, and you may be sure that every. thing that you per onally may repl'esent and do for tl1e good of your • 'ation in any way that yon may deen expedient, thi government is disposed to consider. If you could make yom·selves independent with- ont u ing men who are uot known in your country and are not natives of your country, you wonld make your Nation famous and assure the solidarity of its interests." In order that you may form some idea of what may affect your ovcrcign <leci ions, I thought it well to in ert here a succinct notice of various thing which they ha·ve wished to do here, of other which I haYe undertaken, and of those which I ha,·e t'ffected and their re ults up to the present time; also of the American expedition which ha set ont from here fo1· )fatagorda, of which I have 1iot gi,;en your :\Taj -ty notice by the two posts which I sent la. t year and which up to elate I am unaware whether they reached you. In April of last'yca: I reachecl this city, and as soon a. mr or1-iv11I was known, many •rcneh and Americans were ngnin encourag d to makr an cxp('<lition ag-ain. l :'lfcxico. A 11ew meeting- of many findivi<l]u11ls wns held and J \1·11s 1·cqucsted to be pr. cnt at tl1e. aid se.-. ion in which I was shown their plans for ending nn expedition of two thou. and men. A. they appeared good I npp1·ovcd of them. 'rl)cy then decided that I should be recognized as General-in-Chief; und thnt I . houhl appoint all the officers of the lll'my, cmploycs of the trrasmy, nn<l the tribunal of war. After this wn nrrnnf? d, I g11,·e an order for t.hc enlistment of tl'Oop. which w11 bc,.,un with t.hc

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