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[1538] [SMITH to COUNCIL]
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Executive Department of Texas.
To the Honorable, the President, and Members of the Legislative Council: Gentlemen:-
1 herewith transmit to your body two appointments which purport to have been made by the commander-in-chief of the volunteer army at Bexar. I lay them before by special request, well knowing that you understand your duties in that particular, and as such, will appreciate those appointments in a proper manner. The campaign against Bexar seems to have terminated by capitulation. It is now time for the Government to bring every thing under its own proper control, and pursue the organic system in place of confusion, or desultory warefare. This alone can cure evils, which necessitous precipitancy has thrown in upon us. That this newly framed organization, springing from the midst of anarchy and confusion would be sustained without encountering difficulties could not be expected. Restless, disorganizing spirits are, and ever have been, busy both in the camp and al home, with their vile intrigues and machinations to sap the very foundation of all our hopes. Your honorable body cannot be so blind as not to discover their base purposes. I now warn you, to place on them the mark of Cain, as an assurance, that their merited fate awaits them. I have previously admonished you, that no common duties devolve upon you. That a bold determined stand on your part was necessary lo the preservation of the country. The foundation already laid must be sustained, and the fabric reared upon it; it is for you then, who have been entrusted with the charge, to aid by your indefatigable perseverance to complete the building. There is virtue in the people, and they will sustain you.
I am, gentlemen, Your obedient servant, Henry Smith, Governor.
December 18, 1835.
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