The Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar, Volume I

. P.\PER OF ~IIR,\BE.\U BuoN.\P.\RTE L.,:,uR

305

,veil written tissue of falsehood, and T have all the necessary docu- ments to prove it to be so; but I have no wish by wa)' of recrimina- tion, to trouble th public. 'l'jwy are well paid for writing, but I have more important dutie. to perform. I have no wi. b to trouble the public, hut their interest I will protect. i'l'he imputations were strong, pointed, ,and they felt them as I intended they should. They have published their own infamy to the world, by way of cl'eating tl1eir sympathy. In my prh-ate corre pondence I . creened their president, but in my public I dare not. He was a tranger to me, and to most of you; and as 'such, I had no wish to impeach him, and was willing to make every possibl allowance; bnt hi conduct prove him to be a vain man, and ea, ily tickled into office. It i a bad omen to see a man ,attempt to climb 9ver what he vainly conceives to be another's ruin, and seize with avidity th.e gubernatorial reins, intercept the public correspondence, and proclaim himself the governor of the land. I say:to him, he walks on deceitful ashes, underneath which there is fire. Iy own clajms are slight enough, not having emanated' from the people, but from a convention of the representa- tives of the people. He derives his authority from a bold assump- tion of power, aided by a goaded Council, and in part corrupt, in- significant in numbers, ancl who are only the representatives of the J'epresenta.tives of a very small portion of the people of Texas. They, however, seem to think that the fate of the country is in their hands, and depends solely on their continned presence in the Coun- cil Hall, and that their adjournment will bring down inevitable 1·uin on the country: but, fellow-citizen , I feared they had too much the fate of the couutry in their hands we~ one grand reason why I wished them adjourned. Jf I . hould be permitted to judge, I would suppose the planetary system would receive no great shock; that the sun would I continue to rise and set, a formerly; and the earth continue its rotary motion, and we would still be blessed with seed time and harvest; ,and that if the wheel of this government, · now put in motion, should, from any cause, become clogged or im- peded, they were notified that they would be immediately called by proclamation. I know my duties, and I k,now rny powers. I am well a,vare I had not the power to adjourn the Council w·ithout their co-opera,tion or consent; but :I knew I could cut off their corresp1mdence with my department, and prevent them from doing funther mischief until the onvention met, and be accountable to the people £or so doing. I also well knew they did not make, nor can they break me. For my conduct, I am amenable to my peer , and not to the Council; ithey ha.ve long been without a constitutional quorum, and they had a. presding officer who e duty it was to 1-..-uow the fa-ct, and not make fal. e certificates to me, calculated to deceive, to the injury of the public; and I would permit it no lcuger. They have taken ex- ceptiorn;, ru1d pref,erred their charges ai1d ~pecifioa.tions, in sub- stance and form, on which I have joined issue. They notified me, if I did not appear in three days, and plead that the trial would "'0 on before the Council, exparte; or that I might appear and plead in 20-Llbrary.

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