[l 786] [ROBINSON to COUNCIL]
Governor's Message.
To the Honorable the President and Members of the General Council.
Gentlemen,-In obedience to the resolutions of your honorable body, unanimously adopted on the 10th inst., declaring the office of Governor vacant, and requiring me to enter upon the discharge of the du ties of the same, according to the provisions of the second article of the Organic Law, creating a Provisional Government for Texas; I obey the painful and unexpected call of your honorable body, and enter upon the discharge of my official duties, with a firm reliance upon Divine Providence, and your wisdome and experience to direct and assist me in the performance of that highly important trust; and I cherish the devout hope that your labors to improve, save and serve the country, may be crowned with success. ln doing so, permit me to assure you, that no consideration but the safety and happiness of the country could induce me lo accept the office of Governor at this time, under the peculiar and delicate relations existing between the General Council and myself, and the ex-Governor of Texas, Henry Smith, Esq., with the latter of whom the utmost good feelings have •uniformly prevailed; and having had the honor of presiding over your deliberations by virtue of my appointment of lieutenant-Governor by the General Convention of the chosen Delegates of all Texas, and having received the personal kindness of the members of your honorable body, I was unwilling to separate from you, or change the relation that already existed behveen us: but circumstances beyond my power to control, or within your authority to prevent, has imposed the deplorable necessity upon me, of accepting the responsible station lo which, as the immediate representatives of the people, you have called me. I neither seek nor avoid responsibility; it is the duty of every citizen to obey the call of his country, and upon that principle it becomes my duty to bow in submission.
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