cure the acceptance of our Constitution, and the establishment of a State government.

It has failed and refused to secure, on a firm basis, the right of Trial by Jury, that palladium of civil liberty, and only safe guarantee for the life, liberty, and property of the

citizen.

It has failed to establish any public system of Education, although possessed of almost boundless resources (the public domain), and although it is an axiom in political science, that unless a people are educated and enlightened, it is idle to expect the continuance of civil liberty, or the capacity for self-government.

It has suffered the military commandants, stationed among us, to exercise arbitrary acts of oppression and tyranny, thus trampling upon the most sacred rights of the citizen, and rendering the military superior to the civil power.

It has dissolved, by force of arms, the State Congress of Coahuila and Texas, and obliged our representatives to fly for their lives from the seat of government, thus depriving us of the fundamental political right of representation.

It has demanded the surrender of a number of our citizens, and ordered military detachments to seize and carry them into the interior for trial, in contempt of the civil authorities, and in defiance of the laws and the constitution.

It has made piratical attacks upon our commerce, by commissioning foreign desperadoes, and authorizing them to seize our vessels, and convey the property of our citizens to far distant parts for confiscation.

It denies us the right of worshipping the Almighty according to the dictates of our own conscience, by the support of a national religion, calculated to promote the temporal interest of its human functionaries, rather than the glory of the true and living God.

It has demanded us to deliver up our arms, which are essential to our defence - the rightful property of freemen— aud formidable only to tyrannical governments.

It has invaded our country both by sea and by land, with the intent to lay waste our territory, and drive us from our homes; and has now a large mercenary army advancing to carry on against us a war of extermination.

It has, through its emissaries, incited the merciless savage, with the tomahawk and scalping knife, to massacre the inhabitants of our defenceless frontiers.

It has been, during the whole time of our connexion with

it, the contemptible sport and victim of successive military revolutions, and hath continually exhibited every characteristic of a weak, corrupt, and tyrannical government.

These, and other grievances, were patiently borne by the people of Texas, until they reached that point at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue. We then took up arms in defence of the National Constitution. We appealed to our Mexican brethren for assistance; our appeal has been made in vain; though months have elapsed, no sympathetic response has yet been heard from the interior. We are, therefore, forced to the melancholy conclusion, that the Mexican people have acquiesced in the destruction of their liberty, and the substitution therefor of a military government; that they are unfit to be free, and incapable of selfgovernment.

The necessity of self-preservation, therefore, now decrees our eternal political separation.

WE, therefore, the delegates, with plenary powers, of the people of Texas, in solemn Convention assembled, appealing to a candid world for the necessities of our condition, do hereby resolve and declare, that our political connexion with the Mexican nation has for ever ended, and that the people of Texas do now constitute a FREE, SOVEREIGN, and INDEPENDENT REPUBLIC, and are fully invested with all the rights and attributes which properly belong to independent nations; and, conscious of the rectitude of our intentions, we fearlessly and confidently commit the issue to the supreme Arbiter of the destinies of nations.

In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our

names.

RICHARD ELLIS,

President and Delegate from Red River,

502

APPENDIX.—No. VI.

EXECUTIVE ORDINANCES,

PRELIMINARY TO THE ESTABLISHMENT

OF A

CONSTITUTION FOR TEXAS,

ADOPTED IN CONVENTION

AT

WASHINGTON,

16th MARCH, 1836.

WHEREAS, We, the people of Texas, through our delegates in General Convention assembled, for the purpose of framing a Constitution, and organizing a Government under that Constitution, free, sovereign, and independent; and finding, from the extreme emergency of the case, and our critical situation, that it is a duty we owe to our fellow-citizens and ourselves, to look upon our present danger with a calmness unruffled and a determination unsubdued; and at the same time to pursue a prompt and energetic course, for the support of our liberty and protection of our property and lives; therefore,

1st. Resolved-That we deem it of vital importance to forthwith form, organize, and establish a Government, "ad interim," for the protection of Texas, which shall have full, ample and plenary powers to do all and every thing which is contemplated to be done by the general Congress of the people, under the powers granted to them by the constitution, saving and excepting all legislative and judicial

acts.

2nd. Resolved-That said Government shall consist of a chief executive officer, to be styled the President of the

"

Republic of Texas;" a Vice-President, Secretary of State, Secretary at War, Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of the Treasury, and Attorney-General, whose salaries shall be fixed and determined by the first Congress of the Republic. 3rd. Resolved-That all questions touching the powers hereby confided to these officers, shall be decided by a majority of said officers.

4th. Resolved-That the President be elected by this Convention and that the candidate or individual having a majority of the whole number of votes given in, shall be, and is hereby declared to be duly elected.

5th. Resolved-That the Vice-President, the aforesaid Secretaries and Attorney-General, be elected by this Convention, a majority of the whole number of votes being requisite to a choice.

6th. Resolved-That the members of this body vote for the above-named officers "viva voce."

7th. Resolved-That the officers so selected, be required to take the oath prescribed by the Constitution.

8th. Resolved That the President, by and with the advice and consent of a majority of his cabinet, shall have the appointment of all officers, civil, military, and naval, for and during the existence of the Government ad interim."

66

9th. Resolved-That the Government aforesaid, shall be invested, and they are hereby invested with full powers to create a loan, not to exceed one million of dollars; and to pledge the faith and credit of the Republic, and the proceeds of the sale of the public lands, for the repayment of the same, with the interest thereon.

10th. Resolved-That the President and his cabinet shall have full power to appropriate the funds of Texas to the defence of the country, by raising and supporting the army and navy, making fortifications, &c.

11th. Resolved-That said officers hold their offices until their successors are chosen and qualified.

12th. Resolved-That the President by and with the advice and consent of his cabinet, shall have power to issue writs of election for senators and representatives, at an earlier day than that fixed by the Constitution, and convene them as soon after the election as may be convenient.

13th. Resolved-That the said Government have ample and plenary powers to enter into negotiations and treaties. with foreign powers.

14th. Resolved-That the President and his cabinet have power to appoint commissioners to any foreign power.

The foregoing fourteen resolutions were adopted in Convention of the people of Texas, assembled at the town of Washington, on the sixteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.

RICHARD ELLIS,

President of the Convention.

Attest, A. S. KIMBLE, Secretary.