It now becomes my duty to advert to the subject of the powers granted by Lhe general council to J. W. Fannin, jr., on the 7th of January, 1836; and al a time when two members of the military commillee, and olher members of the council, were advised that I had received orders from your excellency to repair forthwith to the frontier of Texas, and to concentrate the troops for the very purpose avowed in the resolutions referred lo. The powers are as clearly illegal as they were unnecessary. By referenee to the resolutions, it will be perceived that the powers given lo J. W. Fannin, jr., are as comprehensive in their nature, and as much al variance with the organic law and Lhe decrees of the general council, as the decrees of the general Congress of Mexico are al variance with the federal constitution of 1824, and really delegate to J. W. Fannin, jr., as extensive powers as those conferred by the Congress on General Santa Anna. Yel the cant is kept up, even by J. W. Fannin, jr., against the danger of a regular army; while he is exercising powers which he must be satisfied are in open "iolation of the organic law. J. W. Fannin,jr., is a colonel in the regular army, and was sworn in and received his commission on the very day that the resolutions were adopted by the council. By his oath he was subject to the orders of the commander-in-chief, and, as a subaltern, could not, without an act of mutiny, interfere with the general command of the forces of Texas; yet I find, the "Telegraph" of the 9th inst., a proclamation of his, dated on the 8th, addressed, "Attention, volunteers," and requiring them to rendezvous at San Patricio. No official character is pretended by him, as his signature is private. This he did with a knowledge that I had ordered the troops from the mouth of the Brasos to Copana, and had repaired to that point lo concentrate them. On the 10th inst., F. W. Johnson issued a similar proclamation, announcing Matamoras as the point of attack. The powers of both these gentlemen were derived, if derived al all, from the general council, in opposition to the will of the governor; because certain purposes were lo be answered, or the safety and harmony of Texas should be destroyed. Colonel Fannin, in a letter addressed to the general council, dated on the 21st of January, at Velasco, and to which he subscribes himself, "J. W. Fannin, jr., agent provisional government," when speaking of anticipated difficulties with the commander-in-chief, allays the fears of the council, by assuring them that, "I shall never make any myself;" and he then acids, "Thl' object in view will be the governing principle, and should General 1-louslon be ready and willing to take command, and march direct ahead, and execute your orders, and the volunteers lo submit to ii,
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