The Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar, Volume IV, part 1

86

TEXAS STATE LIBRARY

the constitution which they swear to support i!l concerned) become a vagrant and self willed body, and permit themselves to be controlled by the Governor Genl. of the Department of Texas, and aid him in the destruction and burial of the constitution at the place of its origin will require time to prove I will here conclude the investigation of the third interrogatory by making a few remarks The long hum-drum of dry narative (running over eight years of time) I can assure my readers has been as irksome to me to recite as it possibly can be to them to read, and, which might have been strengthened at allmost every point by correlatives, purposely omitted; but they will find it not without its use To the great ma- jority of my readers these things have been involved in mists, and darkness Hence the necessity of taking the tedium of step, by step, so that there should be no ambiguity, and as I considered it all impor- tant that the people to whom I appeal should have the whole matter fairly before them I have been thus tedious Actions, are visible though motives are secret What the Governor of the provisional government attributed to cowardice I attribute to design - What the officers of the army attributed to cowardice I attribute to design, and his actions have clearly proved it For the truth of this narative I appeal to the records of the Country Records are stubborn things, and cannot be easily or successfully controverted I appeal to the members of the Consultation for what happened there if the record cannot be had I appeal to the officers of the army for what happened there and also to the History of the Country I appeal to the citizens of the Country in thirty six to say whether he did not act the traitor then, and the record proves him one ever since And I alledge the narative in the main to ·be as true as holy writ! If it is true (and I have refered to the proofs) there can be nothing truer. Truth has no gradations; nothing which admits of increase can be so much what it is, as truth is truth There may be a strange thing ( as this may seem to many) and a thing more strange But if this be true (and I alledge it is) there can be nothing more true Truth finds an easy entrance into the mind when she is introduced by desire, and attended with pleasure. But as in this case, when she intrudes, as it were, uncalled, forced on the mind from the necessities of the case, and brings nothing but fear, sorrow and degra- dation in her train, the passes of the intellect are too apt to be barred against her by prejudice and passion; if sh€ sometimes forces her way by the batteries of fair argument, as it would seem she ought in this case, I am well aware that she being an unwelcome guest, too seldom long keeps possession of her conquests, but is easily ejecte~ by sophis- ticated hum-bug Of all kinds of credulity, the most obstinate and wonderful is that of political zealots; of men, who, being attached to, and numbered they know not how or why, to any individual or party in politics, they resign the use of their own eyes, ears and reason, and resolve to believe nothing that does not favor those whom they follow As before observed, men sometimes make it a point of honor not to be disabused; and they had rather fall into many errors than to confess one. But after all when neither our principles nor our dispositions, nor perhaps our talents, enable us to encounter delusion with delusion, we must use our best reason to those that ought to be reasonable crea- tures, and to take our chance for the event. We cannot act on these anomalies in the minds of men. We are too apt to take or consider

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