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80
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1837
known that reposing special trust and confidence in the honor, integrity, skill and fidelity of Albert T. Burnley/ I have nomi- nated and do constitute and appoint him to the office of a Com- missioner under the provisions of Said Act to carry the same into effect under the instructions of this Government, and if the Said Commissioner cannot accomplish the objects of his Said office in America, then and in that case he is hereby em- powered to proceed to Europe to effect the purposes of Said act. In Testimony whereof, I have hereto set my hand and caused the seal of the Republic to be affixed at Houston on this 24th day of April A. D. 1837, and of the Independence of the Republic the Second Sam Houston P. W. Grayson,3 Acting Secretary of State. [Endorsed]: Republic of Texas To Commission A. T. Burnley 1 B11nzlcy Papers, Texas State Library. 2 Albert Triplett Burnley (April 15, 1800-May 13, 1861) was born and reared in Hanover County, Virginia. In 1822 he went to Frankfort, Ken- tucky, where he studied Jaw in the office of Judge George M. Bibb, the Chief Justice of Kentucky. In 1827 he married Francis Ann Bibb, the daughter of his preceptor. When Judge Bibb was elected chancellor of Louisville in 1834, he appointed his son-in-law his deputy. At an early time he and Judge Bibb became interested in Texas and bought many thousand acres of land there. The above document shows that Houston appointed him a commissioner to negotiate a five million dollar loan on the bonds of the Texas Government; his efforts to fulfill the commission resulted in failure. In 1839 Lamar again appointed him commissioner to negotiate a loan for Texas in Europe. Again he failed to make the loan, but his efforts to do so proved of considerable benefit to Texas, because he pretty thoroughly advertized the new Republic throughout Europe, and aroused there a great interest in Texas that would probably not otherwise have arisen for many years. Burnley never made his home permanently in Texas because the climate did not agree with his wife, but he spent six months of every year on his plantations in Mississippi and Texas. Like many another Southerner, he was intensely opposed to secession; he was ready, however, to cast in his fortune with that of his native state, but died soon after hearing the news of the firing on Fort Sumter. He was survived by his wife ·and three daughters and a son, Lieutenant George Bibb Burnley, who was killed January 2, 1863, at the battle of Murfreesboro. See The Qum·terly, Texas State Historical Association, XIV, 160-154; E. W. Winkler (ed.), Secret Journals of the Senate, Republic of Tcxcis, 1896-1845, 42, 110, 184, 201, 215; see also, Lamar Papers, II, III, IV, vassim. 3 Peter W. Grayson was a native of Kentucky who came to Texas in 1830 and set up his Jaw practice at San Felipe. He was a true friend and admirer of Stephen F. Austin, and in 1834, volunteered to carry memorials from the Texans to the Mexican Government, praying for Austin's release.
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