WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1836
352
will do all in my power to produce harmony." How was I to be- come acquainted with the orders of the council? Was it through my subaltern? It must have been so designed-as the council have not, up to the present moment, given me any official notice of the orders to which Colonel Fannin refers. This modesty and subordination on his part, is truly commendable in a subaltern, and would imply that he had the right to "say nay." If he has this power, whence is it derived? Not from any law-and con- trary to his sworn duty as my subaltern, whose duty is obedience to my lawful commands, agreeably to the rules and regulations of the United States army, adopted by the consultation of all Texas. If he accepted any appointment incompatible with his obligation as a colonel in the regular army, it certainly increases his moral responsibilities to an extent which is truly to be re- gretted. In another paragraph of his letter, states: "You will allow that we have too much division, and one cause of complaint is this very expedition, and that it is intended to remove General Houston." He then assures the council that no blame shall attach to him, but most dutifully says to them, "I will go where you have sent me, and will do what you have ordered me, if possible." The order of the council, as set forth in the resolutions appointing Colonel Fan- nin agent, and authorizing him to appoint as many agents as he might think proper, did most certainly place him above the gov- ernor and the commander-in-chief of the army-nor is he re- sponsible to the council, or the people of Texas. He is required to report, but he is not required to obey the council. His powers are as unlimited and absolute as Cromwell's ever were. I regard the expedition, as now ordered, an individual, and not a national measure. The resolutions passed in favor of J. W. Fanning, jr., and F. W. Johnson, and their proclamations, with its original start -Doctor Grant--absolve the country from all responsibility for its consequences. If I had any doubt on the subject, previous to having seen, at Goliad, a proclamation of J. W. Fannin, jr., sent by him to the volunteers, I could no longer entertain one, as to the campaign, so far as certain persons are interested in for- warding it. After appealing to the volunteers, he concluded with the assurance that "the troops should be vaicl out of the first spoils taken from the enemy." This, in my opinion, connected with the extraordinary powers granted to him, by the council, divests the campaign of any character save that of a piratical or predatory war.
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