Biv 27 1835 to Jan 13 1835 - PTR, Vol. 3

holds this weapon. Look well to this, people of Texas, in the exercise of suffrage. Look lo it Counsellors, in your appointments lo office. lntegri ty is a precious jewel. Men of Texas! nothing short of independence can place us on solid ground. This step will. This step, loo, will entitle us to confidence, and wilJ procure us credit abroad. Without it, every aid we receive must emananle from the enthusiasm of the moment, and with the moment, will be liable to pass away or die forever. Unless we Lake this step, no foreign power can either respect or even know us. None will hazard a rupture with Mexico, impotent as she is, or incur censure from other powers for interference with the internal affairs of a friendly State, to aid us in any way whatever. Out letters of marque and reprisal must float al the mercy of every nation on the ocean. And whatever courtesy or kindred feeling may do, or forbear to do, in aid of our struggle, prosecuted on the present basis, it would be iclle and worse than child-like to flaller ourselves with the hope of any permanent benefit from this branch of the service, without frankly declaring lo the world, as a people, our independence of military l\•lexico. Let us then take the tyrant and his hirelings at their word. They will not know us but as enemies. Let us, then, know them hereafter, as other independent States know each other - "enemies in war, in peace, friends." Therefore, 1. Be it Resolved, That the former province and department of Texas is, and of right ought to be, a free, sovereign, and independent State. 2. Thal as such, il has, and of right ought to have, all the powers, faculties, attributes, and immunities of other independent nations. 3. That we, who hereto set our names, pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor, to sustain this declarlion - relying with entire confidence upon the cooperation of our fellow-citizens, and the approving smiles of the God of the living, to aid and conduct us victoriously through the struggle, to the enjoyment of peace, union, and good government; and invoking His malediction, if we should either equivocate, or, in any manner whatever, prove ourselves unworthy of the high destiny at which we aim. Done in the town of Goliad, on Sunday, the 20th <lay of

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