of their civil and political rights. Whal effect will the declaration above referred to have on the civilized world, when they learn that the individual who made it has since been clothed with absolute powers by the general council of Texas; and that, because you refused to ratify their acts, they have declared you no longer the governor of Texas? It was stated by way of inducement to the advance on Matamoras, that the citizens of that place were friendly to the advance of the troops of Texas upon that city. They, no doubt, ere this, have J. W. Fannin's proclamation (though it was in manuscript) and if originally true, what will now their feelings toward men who "are to be paid out of the first spoils taken from the enemy"? The idea which must present itself to the enemy, will be, if the city is taken it will be given up to pillage; and when the spoils are collected, a division will take place. In war, when spoil is the object, friends ane enemies share one common destiny. This rule will govern the citizens of the Matamoras in their conclusions, and render their resistance desperate. A city containing twelve thousand souls will not be taken by a handful of men who have marched twenty-two clays without bread-stuffs, or necessary sup- plies for an army. If there ever was a time when Matamoras could have been taken by a few men, that time has passed by. The people of that place are not aware of the high-minded and honorable men who fill the ranks of the Texan army. They will look upon them as they would look upon Mexican mercenaries, and resist them as such. They too wiU hear of the impressment of the property of the citizens of Bexar, as reported to your excellency, by Lieutenant- Colonel Neill, when Doctor Grant left that place for .Matamoras, in command of the volunteer army. . If the troops advance upon Matamoras, there ought to be a cooperation by sea, with the land forces, or all will be lost; and the brave men who have come to toil with us in our marches, and mingle in our battles for liberty, will fall a sacrifice to the selfishness of some who have individual purposes to answer, and whose influence with the council has been such as to impose upon the honest part of its members: while those who were otherwise, availed themselves of every artifice which they could devise, to shield themselves from detection. The evil is now clone, and I trust sincerely, that the first of March may establish a government on some permanent foundation, where honest functionaries will regard and execute the known and established laws of the country, agreeably to their oaths. If this state of things can not be achieved, the country must be lost. I feel, in the station which I hold, that every effort of the council has been
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