and countersigned by myself; and they had been furnished_to I?e for the purpose, in obedience lo a law passed by the full legislatwe power of the country. Mr. Wilson declined acc~pting th_e commission al the time, on the ground that Col. Harrison of this city had been previously commissioned, and would take rank over him. Col. Harrison was the first lo present himself to me, and I would not do him the injustice to place another over him. Mr. Wilson determined to proceed with the battalion on his own responsibility. According to the accounts in the public papers of the day, he had about 300 men when he left Louisville. At his departure from the mouth of Salt river, a number of his men had left him, and I have been informed from various sources, that, when he embarked from New Orleans, more than half of the men that marched from Lexington with him, had withdrawn from from his command. He disembarked at Galveston Island and proceeded to Velasco to visit the President, leaving his men upon the Island. On presenting himself at Velasco, we were told he was not invited to take a seat, which it seems gave great offence. Now candor requires that I should confess, that I am unable to explain this important circumstance satisfactorily. Peradventure, the President was absorbed in care, public or private, and it did not occur to him that a newly come volunteer officer might take it in dudgeon and go home; mayhap, it was not customary at the court of Velasco for President Burent to permit his military friends to be seated in his august presence. But I will not undertake to account for so grave a matter by conjecture; and I trust I shall he excused for this failure, if I succeed in refuting the balance of the charges, even if they prove to be l~ weighty than this when stripped of misrepresentation. Having failed to obtain a seat to sit upon in the presence of President Burnet, he next directed his enquiries to ascertain what was to be his rank, and when and where the land was to be had, for the fighting which he was to do. As not less than 500 men will entitle a person to the rank of Colonel, according to the law upon the subject unless it he in the army of reserve, the President informed him that he could not confer upon him the rank to which he aspired; and, as the President is not authorized to give bounties to volunteers until they have rendered the services stipulated in the law, he told Mr. Wilson he could give him no land-disgusted perhaps at perceiving, that his only object was land and rank. The law secures lo volunteers the right to land, but it does not authorize any person to designate and give possession of that land. It contemplates that service shall first be rendered; and where, how, and when possession shall be given, are matters yet to
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