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. PAPERS OF :MIRABEAU Bi;ONAPARTE LAMAR
But since then the affairs of Texas have sadly changed and if I am rightly informed the people have also changed the usages of all civilized nations in not recognizing the Empresario claims either by settlement or compromise. If this indeed be a fact we know that the evil destiny of the country is Sealed for He who cannot lie has declared that a nation establishing itself in inniquity shall never long prosper.- Jus- tice is sometimes slow but never Sleeps-the Almighty has over and over declared that vengeance will overtake the guilty- I have frequently attempted to repel such insinuation as the follow- ing-That the people of Texas pay little or no respect to the laws of God or ::Han-that they are a drunken piratical horde alike reckless of justice or humanity-that one could not live in the country without going armed and I am sorry to know that the letters of indiYiduals in that country to their friends in :Miss afford too much evidence of the truth of the above Yet I do my utmost to repel the influence of any prejudice against the Country You will confer a -lasting obligation Sir on a sincere friend of Texas by giving me information on this matter I cannot resist the opinion myself and it is also the opinion of the most able jurists I have con- sulted on the subject that those who have honestly purchased land in that country of the Empresario claims and paid for it with the view of settling it are in equty entitled to the amount of principle and interec;t in land at Government prices It is very probable that suitable dis- tinction should be made between mere speculators and those that have purchased with a view of settling the country I have a young family of four Children the oldest seventeen the young- est ten and have also a comfortable li,ing but I could not well go to Texas should I get nothing for the title I possess But I venture to hope better things than these from the good people of Texas and I most devoutly hope Sir that all the above-mentionerl insinuations my [sic] prove to be groundless Therefore I beg you would haw the goodness in a letter directed to the place where this is mailed to inform me of the safety of living in that. Country without going armed how the laws are respected and the probability of a compromise . That you may long liYe Sir to promote thP. interest and wellfare of your rising +-f ation and that that Nation may become one of the great- est and most virtuous on the Globe is the most earnest desire of
Your Obt Servant-
Ezekiel Shelden
Brunswick )larch 29th. 1840 [ Addressed] His Excellency )Iirabeau B Lamar President of The Republic of . Texas
[Endorsed] Ezekiel Shelden Feby. 1840
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