army and proceed against Matamora~; thus endea~ouring by misrepresentations and false charges agam~t the ~ounc1I_, to excite public indignation against them, and divert if possible, their attention from his own lawless and headlong course, trampling law under his feet disregarding his official oath, and breaking up the foundations of Government. He charges the Council with joining with the expedition against Matamoras, a piratical co-operation. By this he means the purchase of the schooner Invincible, by the appointing of Thomas F. McKinney, (whose patriotism he highly commends in his mes~age to the Council,) to the command, for the purpose of attacking and taking, if practicable, the Montezuma, a Mexican vessel, now in Galveston, which has been cruising about our coasts, to annoy and capture vessels coming into our ports, and intercept the importation into Texas of men, munitions of war, and supplies for our armies. It was for the purpose of capturing if possible, this vessel, and for the further purpose of protecting our commerce and obstructing that of the enemy, that the Council authorized the purchase a~d equip- ment for service, of the schooner Invincible; a measure recommend- ed by Governor Smith, in his communications to the Council. All these acts of stubbornness and perverseness, were not sufficient to gratify his thirst for the sole dominion and arbitrary sway of the land. His dignity was insulted at the idea of the existence of the co-ordinate branch of the Government, to curb his acts and check his usurpation. He became more and more restless, until enraged at the presumption of the Council, in the exercise of a constitutional right, and in conformity with the true interests of the country, to pass an ordinance and decree by a constitutional majority, after it had been vetoed by "his Excellency," he ignites; his fury in a blaze, consumes his prudence, (what he had) he orders the Council to disperse, shuts the doors of communication between the two departments, and proclaims himself the Government! Such is the purport of his last message, dated the ninth of January instant, accompanied with documents received by express from Bexar, containing an account of the deplorable situation in which the troops of that garrison were left by Dr. Grant, who headed an expedition from that ~lace to Matamoras. _The message he would make it appear, was mduced by the arri~al of. these dispatches, as he directed them to be read .first, as a1_1 m?uct1on_ to his message, in which he falsely charges the Council with havmg
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