restore harmony, promote union, provide for the common defence and general welfare; and that the. public interc:;t mav not be prejudiced or injured by the prc;;cut unhappy state of clissention and disunion. Allow me to mge upon you the necessity of doing so with as little deluy as your other imperative and urgent duties will per- mit, anrl 1 woulcl respectfully say, that I hold my official papers at the cli!:'position of the Convention. \Ve are now invcdecl by a ruthless enemy, who g!ves no quar- ters, anrl conscious that a moment ought not to be lost in meeting and repeUing him, I will not attempt an argument of the question of the propriety of such an organization;· it must be too plain a proposition to need it; and there is neither time nor place for colJ debate; but the times call for prompt and energetic action. The kindness of friends, the confidence reposed, and the duty I owe my country will not permit me to say less, and the urgent and imploring call of our invaded homes will not allow me longer to trespass upon your valuable time, that can otherwise be profitably appropriated. That Harmony may prevail in your councils, throughout all your arduous labors, as it has in making an unqualified declaration of Independence, and the formation of a Constitution thereon for our Government may be the happy result, is the sincere hope of your Fellow citizen, JAMES W. ROBINSON. The President laid before the Convention a communication from John McMullen, the late President pro-tem of the late General Council, Alexander Thompson and G. .A. Patillo, which beirig read by the Secretary was as follows. Council Room, Washington, March 8, 1836. To the Honl. the President and members of the Convention: The undersigned members of the General Council, have under- stood, from some source, that the verbal not:ce given us a few days since by n committee of your honorable body, thnt "the Conven- vention were organized," was <lel•mecl a sufficient nnnouncement that the power!c' of the provisional Go,·t. hncl ceai:ecl. 'rhis. from our unclerstnnding of the or~nnic T,nw, we did not think to be the case, nor that we could be relieved without some dcclnration on the part of the Convention_; accordingly, we replied rerbnlly to yonr Committee, that we were reaclv to cleliver the nrchivei: of the Council into the liands of the Convention, or nny nnt.horitv acting as n Go,;ernmcnt. provisionnl or othcrwi!'C. · • The nnfortnn:itr. clinicultiri: thnt aro~c between the clilTerent branches of the provi~ional goYcrnmcnt. of whi('h it i!- unnrees-
321
Powered by FlippingBook