306
TEXAS STATE LrnR,\RY
Convention. I acknowledged the receipt of the charges preferred, and made a demand of the p1'esident for a list of the name. of the member pre ent, and up to the •fir t of the month, indu ivc; for by their own acts, and the testimony of their own body, I expected to acquit myself of all the char••e preferred aaain t me: and that, in- a much as I 11ad already been condemned by their body, rea on would direct the latter alternative, that, a a public officer, I was eYet· amenable to my peers, and to none other. They have refu ed or neglected to furnish the list; and instead thereof, the u urper has mad<' a peremptory demand (by hi officer, : wJ1om. he tyle. a marshal,) of alJ the archive of my office, and that two hour only were allowed for me to mal,e the delivery. This I view -as an un- warranted ont1·a~e, amounting to trea on: for, I had notified them, that ou those Yery a •t.c; I predicated my defence. I appeal, fellow- <·itizcn , not to· your ympathies-T _appeal for ju tice; even-handed ju. tice i. all I a. k at your hand . ~Ty acts are open to your in- vestigation. If I have betrayed the important trust, if I have erred, either b~· orni ion or. commi sio11, l hold my elf am.enable 1:o you. If my right. aJHl immuniti<' , a. your exe ·utive officer, have been in. ulted and infringed, puni h the intruders and aggressor , their conn <'1101 , aider. and abettor , prnmptly, and re to1·e tlw legitimate action of the gon."tnment. Thi i the econd time I have been in- terrupted in the regular di charge of my functions a. the executive officer of Texa., in the course of a few months: fir t, by a Mexican, who wru prompted to grasp the reiu., and now by an usurper, whose vauit ha. pt ompted him to mount the gubernatorial chair, proclaim him elf GoYemor, and rule the destinies of the country. If these things at'C!' permitted to go nnpuni. heel, what enn we expect but confu ion, followed b? ruin and disgrace· predatory parties fitted out by land and by sea, 'on the faith, the credit, and, I may ju tly ay, the ruin of the country. The iegc of BC'ja1·, with the consequ nee. and subsequent ma1tagement, T woukl suppose, ought to be uffic·ient to teach us a le.. 011. That fortr s, the reduction of which ha. co. t us so much, is uow stripped, and left with only cventy naked · men, destitute of clothing, provisions, ammunition and every com- fort, and the cou11t1·y pillaged by impre. m<'nts, and on the la t advices, thrcatcued by a. large i11vacling )Iexiean a1·my, who, hraring of thr weak-ened . itnation of that ga1Tison, had determined to re- take it. For th s pl'C<latory expedition., means can be rai cd on th faith a11d crC'dit of the government, but not one dollar for hone t purposes-not even provisions to feed the weary . oldier. These things a.re brought about hy intriguing, de. ig11ing men, who seek not to p1·omotc. hut \rn<lermi11e, trammel, and finally ruin the coun- try, c1ided by the improyideut aet. of a corn11H Conucil. \\'hat I ha\'e clo11c, be it con. idcred good or bad, ha. been done for the hcst of rcas ns, and from the p111· :t motives. I frankly nclmowl- eclgc, that I kno\\·ingly and wilfully set tho nm1ch; T hnvc raised the storm; I have thrown my.·clf into the 1lrN1rh: and whnt ,·er the <'onscquPnccs 11rn~• he to me ns nn i11<livid11al, 1 honestly own to yon, it is a ~ncrifire I hnYe willini,?ly made at the . hrine of the pnhlie irood. Th :1<•itnt<'d state of the 1·111111try renders it ncccs~ry that
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