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WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1837-184,1
Commissioners, in conformity with the former proceedings of the Government, No. 6, were signed, and agreeably to them, a treaty was held on the 23rd day of February, 1836, in the first year of the Provisional Government~ and is marked No. 7, in the documents. It will be observed by the Honorable Senate, on a careful and dispassionate comparison of all the documents and circumstances, that the Commissioners did not transcend the powers delegated to them, but acted in strict conformity with the previous action of the Government, and in a manner which in no wise compro- mitted either its honor, or the lawful right of any individual. At the time this treaty was negotiated, if ever a crisis would have justified dissimulation or extravagant promises unauthor- ized, or not to be redeemed, it was at that moment. The Commissioners were fully apprised of the invasion of Texas by all the forces of Mexico. Letters of the immortal Travis, invoking the aid of his fellow- citizens, to sustain him in the defence of the Alamo had already, with miraculous expedition, reached Nacogdoches, depicting his true situation, and dooming himself with his devoted band to inevitable destruction, before he would permit his country's ban- ner to be dishonored. Many were then retiring from the country to a peaceful retreat, whose constitutions, or dispositions were not adapted to the hard- ships of iron war. Yet the Commissioners pursued the steady purpose for which they believed they were appointed, and for which they were to be accountable to their country and posterity. They believed that the authority under which they acted was the supreme authority of the land. They believed that the pledges which had been given, and under which they were then acting, were the pledges of a nation that would see that its faith was maintained, and its honor preserved from violation. They did not believe that they were to be converted into instruments of duplicity, nor the perfidious agents of deception. Th~ stipulations then made between the contracting parties seemed to be equitable and just, while it secured to both parties amicable relations, and would prevent one party from becoming hostile to the other. The attitude assumed by the Texian Govern- ment had been of its own option. The Indians had not coerced it. They had used no threats against the Texians. It surely could not have been a matter of policy on the part of the Texian Govern- ment, merely for the purpose of lulling the Indians for the present time, by the most solemn acts, and to lull them into a state of
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