The Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar, Volume III

PAPERS OF l\lIRABEAU BuoNAPARTE I,AMAR 87 and commissions and found one 38 which I did not know of before expressly authorising and empowering him to treat with any fully authorised l\lexican agent upon the subject of Peace, boundary, Com- merce &- investing him in short with plenary powers over the sub- ject- It immediately occured to me, that I must have misunder- stood Col Bees letter, or that Col Bee, or that from his understanding of what i& due to him in the conduct of the business, you would be likely to have soipe unpleasant difficulty with him 39 - l\Iy fears it is true, may have run away with my judgment, and I hope it may be so, and that if the treaty is to be made here, then there will be no difficulty in arranging the preliminaries- I therefore only give you this to put you fully on your guard well knowing that if I am mis- taken (and you will probably know all about it) It wi11~ 0 influence you in the least in your conduct towards these gentlemen, both of whom are your friends, and should be kept so which will not be diffi- cult--! am looking every day for Genl Dunlaps return, when I shall probably know more of the matter- Ever since I have been in the U S. I have watched with the greatest attention the feeling of the people of the U. S. as evinced through the public prints, and can safely say the confidence in the wisdom and integrity of your administration, is almost universal-There is hardly a talented Editor in this country who does not every now & then grace his paper with a crack article on the subject of Texas her Govt President &c of the most complimentary character Even Gales & Seaton, the great leaders of the party for a long time opposed to the interest of Texas have, since I have been in the city changed their tone and are now, from a: sense of justice bestowing praise when they before vented their bitterest jeers & jibes They are, in this change I most conscientiously believe as they h□Ye been always, deeply impressed with the Conviction that they owe it to justice to notice the improved state of affairs in Texas, and to be- stow commendation upon the administration which has done so much in so short a time, for the establishment of law, order & morality, where before all was Confusion-·-r have frequently talked with l\lr. Gales upon this subject, and he has as frequently told me that he did not think a parallel to Texas (viewed in all her relations) could be found in the history of the whole world · --"Her destiny" he says in a late article "is in the hands of won- derful men- I mention all this to show that whatever may be your trials and vexations at home, you are nevertheless fully understood and appreciated abroad- I do not express a hope that this sort of intel- ligence will have the effect to strengthen your resolution to be guided in your measures only by a sense of right & justice, for this I feel fully convinced you would have done at all hazards, but it may serve to solace 88 A draft of this commission, ·dated ii.far. 13, 1839, is in the Texas archives "Diplomatic Correspondence, U. S. and Texas." ,.Plummer's meaning is not at all clear here. He must have meant that he misunderstood either General Dunlap's or Colonel Bee's letter, but even if that is taken for granted, the last part of the sentence is obscure. ' 0 Here -again the meaning of the sentence would be more in accord with that of the paragraph if the word "not" were inserted.

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