U9- 
 
 LAMAR'S PROSECUTION 
 
 OF 
 
 SANTA ANNA 
 
 jniiuHiiiiiiiiiHiuMtniiiitiiiMiiithiiitiirnnnuiiifuiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiutiiiiiiiiiniMiiiiinnitmiiiiiiiiii 
 
 *'The blood of Goliad and the Alamo. The hand that 
 spilt it wrote Tekel on the walls of Mexico." 
 
 — Toast by Lamar, at a dinner given in his honor 
 at Coiumbus, Ga., July 4, 1837. 
 
 niiiiiiDniiMMiiiiiiiitiiiMiMitiiniitiiiiiiiiii 
 
 iiMnriiniiiuitiiiiniiitiinniiiiMnniiiiiiiiiiiiMitiiniiiiinniiiiiiiiitiMinintininiiHtniiriiiiuiiiitttiMiiiiiiitHi 
 
 SINCLAIR MORELAND 
 
 EDITOR 
 
 Published by 
 
 The Texas Historical Press 
 
 Austin, Texas 
 
 Box 538 
 
F 1232 
 .L2 
 Copy 1 
 
 Series No. 1 
 
 LAMAR'S PROSECUTION 
 
 OF 
 
 SANTA ANNA 
 
 "The blood of Goliad and the Alamo. The hand that | 
 
 spilt it wrote Tekel on the walls of Mexico." | 
 
 — Toast by Lamar, at a dinner given in his honor i 
 
 at Columbus, Ga., July 4, 1837. I 
 
 SINCLAIR MORELAND 
 
 EDitOR 
 
 Published by 
 
 The Texas Historical Press 
 
 Austin, Texas 
 
 Box 538 
 

 ^^j^rj^. Uv.'^V.iW.c 
 
LAMAR'S PROSECUTION OF SANTA ANNA 
 
 AVar Department, 
 Eepnblic of Texas, 12th May, 1836. 
 To the President and Cabinet : 
 
 Gentlemen— Impressed with the importance of an early determi- 
 nation of the question as to what disposition shall be made of General 
 Santa Anna and other Mexican prisoners in the custody of this 
 government, I beg leave to call you to the consideration of the matter 
 by tendering most respectfully the result of my reflections upon the 
 subject, without burdening the cabinet with, the various consider- 
 ations which have conducted me to my conclusions. Whatever course 
 may be decided upon, prompt and energetic execution would seem 
 to be highly advisable. From the tenor of some of our discussions, 
 conducted with frankness and freedom, I infer that my views, in all 
 probability, will be found on this embarrassing question not in ac- 
 cordance with those of a majority of the body with whom I have the 
 honor to act; but, however variant our opinions,- there can be but 
 one motive of action, which is patriotism, and but one object to 
 attain, which is the good of the country. Feeling as I do a great 
 reliance upon both your ability and willingness to perceive and 
 pursue the right, I cannot urge my peculiar opinions with that ardour 
 and zeal which I should do in cases where those with whom I might 
 differ possessed a smaller share of my personal esteem .and public 
 confidence. But, notwithstanding this unaffected deference to your 
 virtue and wisdom, my convictions are not the less clear and stable, 
 and my obligation to enforce them, as far as my official voice can 
 do it, is not the less imperious and binding. Coming to my task with 
 a clear conscience, and awarding the same to those with whom I 
 disagree, I will in the first place promise that the different conclu- 
 sions at which we have arrived in former discussions in relation to 
 our distinguished prisoner, have arisen from the fact that whilst he 
 has been considered by most of the cabinet exclusively as a prisoner 
 of war, I have been disposed to regard him more as an apprehended 
 murderer. The conduct of General Santa Anna will not permit me 
 to view him in any other light. A chieftain battling for what he 
 conceives to be the rights of his country, however mistaken in his 
 views, may be privileged to make hot and vigorous war upon the foe ; 
 but when, in violation of all the principles of civilized conflict, he 
 avows and acts upon the revolting policy of extermination and 
 rapine, slaying the surrendering, and plundering whom he slays, he 
 forfeits the commiseration of mankind by sinking the character of 
 the hero into that of an abhorred murderer. The President of Mexico 
 has pursued such a war upon the citizens of this Republic. He has 
 caused to be published to the world a decree denouncing as pirates 
 beyond the reach of his clemency all who shall be found rallying 
 around the standard of our independence. In accordance with this 
 decree, he has turned over to the sword the bravest and best of our 
 friends and fellow citizens after they had grounded their arms under 
 
the most solemn pledge that their lives should be spared. He has 
 fired our dwellings, laid waste our luxuriant fields, excited servile 
 and insurrectionary war, violated plighted faith, and inhumanly 
 ordered the cold-blooded butchery of prisoners, who have been be- 
 trayed into capitulation by heartless professions. I humbly conceive 
 that the proclamation of such principles and the perpetuation of such 
 crimes place the offender out of the pale of negotiation, and demand 
 at our hands other treatment than what is due a mere prisoner of 
 war. Instinct condemns him as a murderer, and reason justifies the 
 verdict. Nor should the ends of justice be averted because of the 
 exalted station of the criminal, or be made to give way to the sug- 
 gestions of interest or any cold considerations of policy. He who 
 sacrifices human life at the shrine of ambition, is a murderer, and 
 deserves the punishment and infamy of one. The higher the of- 
 fender, the greater reason for its infliction. I am therefore of the 
 opinion that our prisoner, General Santa Anna, has forfeited his life 
 by the highest of all crimes, and is not a suitable object for the 
 exercise of our pardoning prerogative. There are minds, no doubt, 
 that will readily assent to the justice of this sentence, yet, neverthe- 
 less, be willing to waive its execution for certain advantages which 
 it is fancied will flow to our country from a wise and judicious 
 negotiation. Of those who cherish this view of the matter, I would 
 respectfully inquire, what surety do they propose for the fulfillment 
 of any stipulations? "What good can they hope to result from an 
 extorted treaty? General Santa Anna is our prisoner of war, and 
 as such may be ready to enter into any agreement which our rights 
 may require, or our selfishness exact; but, when restored to liberty 
 and power, will he feel any obligation to comply with such terms 
 which he had no agency in dictating? "What he assents to whilst 
 a prisoner he may reject when a free man. Indeed, the idea of 
 treating with a man in our power, who views freedom in acquiescence 
 and death in opposition, seems to me more worthy of ridicule than 
 refutation; and to carry on such a negotiation with an individual 
 who never was known to fulfill a voluntary promise against his 
 interest, with the remotest expectation that he will act up to an 
 extorted one, which his pride and resentment spurn, would evince 
 a confidence in human nature dangerous to act upon, and which I 
 should most sincerely deplore if permitted to influence the councils 
 of this Republic. 
 
 If it be true, as experience leads us to suspect, that but little reli- 
 ance is to be placed upon the faith even of good men, when it stands 
 in collision with their interest, what dependence or confidence shall 
 we repose upon the word of one whose sanguinary crimes are 
 equalled only by his treachery and falsehood? Yet such is the 
 acknowledged character of the distinguished individual with whom 
 it is proposed to treat for our independence, and to restore to liberty 
 and power under a verbal or written pledge that he will promote 
 our wishes and serve our cause. With me such pledges are lighter 
 than ' ' moonshine 's watery beam. ' ' I trust them as I would a ' ' dicer 's 
 oaths." But, independent of this consideration, it may be very well 
 doubted whether Santa Anna, with every disposition to fulfill every 
 
— 5— 
 
 agreement which he may now enter into, will, on his return to 
 Mexico, have the power to do it. It was public opinion which drove 
 him into war with Texas, and the same public sentiment, on his 
 arrival at home, may keep him in the attitude of avowed, if not 
 actual, hostility to this country. No matter what may be his private 
 feelings, self-preservation, the stability of his power, may depend 
 upon his continued opposition to our views. How can we then expect 
 of him a compliance with any compact formed for the recognition 
 of our independence, or for any other purpose? The advantage 
 proposed to be gained from his supposed, or probable, integrity, 
 cannot, of consequence, be realized, even with every willingness on 
 his part to redeem his pledges. I doubt not in the least that as soon 
 as the news of his defeat and imprisonment shall be sounded within 
 the walls of Mexico, that instant will be lost all his authority in the 
 land, as he has long since lost the affections of his people. He will 
 be powerless either for good or ill. I am, therefore, decidedly op- 
 posed to all, negotiation or arrangements with him. First, because 
 he is a prisoner, and not free to act ; secondly, because he is faithless 
 and unworthy of confidence ; and thirdly, because of the great cer- 
 tainty of his inability to fulfill his promises, even with the desire 
 to do it. But, after all, if I should find myself mistaken, if negotia- 
 tions shall be entered into with him, and all the anticipated blessings 
 be realized, our independence acknowledged, our national boundary 
 settled, and our rights respected, I shall be mortified with the re- 
 flection that these ends, which might have been easily achieved by 
 our valour, have been obtained by the sacrifice of just resentment, 
 and the loss of merited vengeance. I shall certainly rejoice in my 
 country's prosperity, but at the same time shall feel that whilst her 
 interest was promoted, the ends of justice were perverted. 
 
 Opposed as I stand to all negotiations with our prisoner, that ques- 
 tion very naturally arises : What is the next best course to adopt 
 after the rejection of the proposal for his execution? I answer that 
 T am but an ill adviser when I feel myself called upon to forsake the 
 right, to follow the expedient ; yet, as I am bound officially to speak, 
 I have no hesitancy in offering as my opinion, that the first thing 
 to which we should direct our attention is the redemption of our 
 fellow citizens in captivity, by exchange of prisoners, according to 
 rank and numbers. When this is effected, the balance of the Mexi- 
 cans in our power, the officers and soldiers, including General Santa 
 Anna and his suite, should remain prisoners of war in the custody 
 of the government, during the continuance of hostilities, which I 
 would not cease to prosecute with all the vigour of our strength and 
 resources, until our national rights shall be recognized in a treaty 
 of peace with the government of Mexico. I feel that our country 
 is fully adequate to the achievement of this desirable end, which I 
 doubt not will be greatly facilitated by holding on to the most influ- 
 ential of our prisoners, whose interests it will be to promote, as 
 "speedily as practicable, some arrangements with their government 
 which shall give liberty to them and satisfaction to us. If they can 
 be of any possible use to us in bringing about a recognition of our 
 independence, it must be in this way; it must be by the lingering 
 
— 6— 
 
 authority that may still attach to their names in Mexico, together 
 with the personal influence which they may be able to exercise over 
 their friends and partisans, for their redemption. As prisoners of 
 war, it is their interest to forward our views, and they are powerless 
 to do us harm ; but if we should release them upon the strength of 
 any pledges which they might make, we turn loose an inveterate 
 enemy, with knowledge increased by experience, and a disposition 
 to injure augmented by mortified pride, with no guarantee for the 
 fulfillment of promises, except the honor of one who feels no com- 
 punction and fears no shame. Hence I vote for their detention as 
 prisoners, and stand opposed to all policy that would give them 
 freedom before the termination of our struggle. And I recommend 
 the adoption of this course the more cheerfully because it will 
 operate the dethronement of a tyrant who never possessed power 
 without abusing it, or the alfections of his people without betraying 
 them. The detention of Santa Anna in Texas, until a treaty of peace 
 is formed, will strip him of all authority in Mexico, and this will be 
 mercy to that nation, and perhaps to mankind. He will return to 
 the land that has groaned under his despotism a toothless viper, 
 with the malevolence to strike, but without the fang to wound. 
 Upon his downfall will rise the advocates of liberal principles and 
 the friends of free government. Humanity will rejoice at the respite 
 -from blood, and the agitated waves of society will be smoothed and 
 tranquillized by the oil of peace. The ends of justice may not be 
 fully attained, but the brave patriots whose rights have been crushed 
 in the march of this ruthless rioter in blood will feel some conso- 
 lation in the reflection that, though he escapes the proper expiation 
 of crime, he will experience in the reverses of fortune some retri- 
 bution for his merciless wars waged against human liberty and 
 human life. I am understood, I presume, as recommending this 
 course only as a secondary one. My mind adheres to its original 
 convictions, that our prisoner should be tried and punished for the 
 crime of murder. I still feel that strict justice requires this course, 
 that it is sustained by reason, and will receive the sanction of the 
 present generation, as well as the approving voice of posterit3^ If 
 the cabinet could concur with me in this view of the subject, and 
 march boldly up to what I conceive to be the line of right, it would 
 form a bright page in the history of this infant nation. It would 
 read well in the future annals of the present period, that the first 
 act of this young Republic was to teach the Caligula of the age that 
 in the administration of public justice, the vengeance of the law 
 falls alike impartially on the prince and the peasant. It is time that 
 such a lesson should be taught the despots of the earth. They have 
 too long enjoyed an exemption from the common punishment of 
 crime. Throned in power, they banquet on the life of man, and then 
 purchase security by the dispensation of favours. We have it in 
 our power now to give an impulse to a salutary change in this order 
 of things. "We are sitting in judgment upon the life of a stupendous 
 villain, who, like all others of his race, hopes to escape the blow of 
 merited vengeance by the strong appeals which his exalted station 
 enables him to make to the weak or selfish principles of our nature. 
 
— 7— 
 
 Shall he be permitted to realize his hopes, or nof? Shall our resent- 
 ment be propitiated by promises, or shall we move sternly onward, 
 regardless of favour or affection, to the infliction of a righteous 
 punishment? My voice is, "Fiat justicia, ruat coelum." 
 
 Send forth this decree, and all will be well. It will be a corner 
 stone of adamant to the' government which we are about to erect. 
 On such a solid foundation we shall be able to rear a fair fabric of 
 freedom with such a pleasing combination of beauty and strength 
 ^-s to attract the admiration of the virtuous, and at the same time 
 bid defiance to the assaults of the vicious. But if, on the other hand, 
 we should be overawed from this course by the dread of conse- 
 quences, or be seduced from it by the flattering suggestions of a 
 selfish policy, what will the present generation say; what will be 
 the language of posterity, but that we were deficient in necessary 
 energy for the times ; that we had lost in the cabinet what we gained 
 in the field, and that the selfish character of our councils had dimmed 
 the chivalry of San Jacinto ? I do not fly to the law of retaliation 
 in support of the measure I propose. I repudiate the doctrine of 
 "lex talionis." All that I ask is even-handed justice. Give to crime 
 the punishment that is due. Justice is a lovely attribute. If person- 
 ified, she would rival the masterwork of Praxiteles. I would not 
 mar the least of her beauties. I w^ould not of¥er violence to one of 
 her pure and holy precepts for all the diadems of the Caesars. 
 Amongst her sacred principles, that which demands an impartial 
 administration of public law is perhaps the most exalted and pre- 
 eminent. I require only that this be not set aside in adjudicating- 
 the ease of our distinguished prisoner. Let the same punishment he- 
 ■awarded him which we would feel bound in honor and conscience- 
 to inflict on a subaltern charged and convicted with the like offence.- 
 This is all that justice can require. If he had committed no act 
 which would bring condemnation on a private individual, then let 
 him be protected : but if he has perpetrated crimes which a man 
 in humble life would have to expiate on the scaffold, then why shield 
 him from the just operations of a law to Avhich another is held 
 amenable ? The exalted criminal finds security in negotiation, whilst 
 the subaltern offender is given over to the sword of the executioner. 
 Surely no consideration of interest or policy can atone for such a 
 violation of principle. View the matter in every possible light, and 
 Santa Anna is still a murderer. If it were any other person, we 
 should all feel it to be our imperious duty to invoke upon his head 
 the thunders of the violated law ; but, being him, what becomes of 
 this imperious duty? It holds a parley to calculate the profits of a 
 dereliction. I would most respectfully impress upon the cabinet the 
 extreme danger of all policy that conflicts with an impartial exe- 
 cution of strict justice, and would also enforce the important re- 
 flection that a negotiation with a villain, for his forfeited life, is 
 but the licensing of crime. The impropriety of the course which I 
 fear we are about to pursue, in giving life and liberty to one so 
 unworthy of either, in consideration of pecuniary or political advan- 
 tages, may be easily illustrated by an imaginary case. Turn to any 
 of the blood-thirsty tyrants whose murders darken the pages of 
 
ancient history — Nero, for instance, — and place him npon trial for 
 his multiform iniquities against God and nature. Behold him in the 
 pride of his power; the wheels of his chariot rattle on the bones of 
 his foes, and the banner of extermination floats in the sighs of a 
 heartbroken people. Behold him in his hours of revelry ; the wailing 
 of the widow is the music of the festal hall, and the tear of the 
 orphan is the nectar of the banquet. Behold him in the moments of 
 cruelty and wrath ; he rips the womb of his mother, stamps his iron 
 heel upon the bosom of beauty, and drinks the blood of the blue-eyed 
 infant. Suppose he were now arraigned before us in all the pleni- 
 tude of crime, with the accumulated guilt of forty years flowering 
 on his head and staring us in the face ; suppose it were proven upon 
 him that the history of his whole life was one continued series of 
 slaughter, rapine, and desolation; that he could devote himself to 
 the music of the violin in the midst of a burning city, and walk over 
 the prostrate bodies of the dying and the dead, from the instinctive 
 love of cruelty and blood? I ask you in the name of outraged nature 
 and insulted justice, what should be our verdict against so foul a 
 demon? Every virtuous emotion, every manly feeling, every en- 
 nobling principle of the human heart, proclaims in a voice of thunder 
 — Instant death and eternal shame. But suppose, in opposition to 
 all the eloquence of nature, we were to whisper in the ear of the 
 princely criminal that he had gold and power and dominion, and 
 that, though his crimes were manifold and great, he might still elude 
 the punishment which his villainy deserved, if he would give us gold 
 to pay our public debt; if he would enlarge our national boundary, 
 and elevate us in the scale of political dignity : I ask in the name of 
 common honesty, what would be the judgment of mankind upon such 
 a transaction? What could it be less than that we had dimmed the 
 lustre of our national escutcheon by a sacrifice of principle for the 
 public good ? And now I would most respectfully put the question : 
 In what essential particular does this imaginary case differ from 
 the real one under consideration? Who is Santa Anna but the Nero 
 of the present day? Is he not the foe to all virtue? Has he not 
 stabbed at public liberty? Has he not rioted in human gore, ravaged 
 realms, violated treaties, and stands he not now before us the invader 
 of our country and the cold-blooded butcher of our friends and 
 brethren? Why hesitate, then, to consign him to that punishment 
 which his deeds demand? 
 
 By negotiating with him for his life and liberty, do we not in effect 
 publish to the world that our abhorrence of crime is subordinate to 
 ■our attachment to interest, and that we are willing to stifle the course 
 and forego a just resentment for certain political advantages, which 
 it were just as easy to win by our arms, and which, I fear, after all 
 negotiations, we shall still have to purchase and maintain by our 
 valour? Poor \Yorth, that political dignity which is bought at the 
 price of honour! I am certain that there is not a gallant son of 
 chivalry whose faithful sabre played like a meteor on the plains of 
 San Jacinto, but will feel that his trusty blade drank the blood of 
 the foe in vain when he hears that the prime object of vengeance 
 has been permitted to purchase his life and depart the land, in liberty 
 
— 9— 
 
 and peace. It will be useless to talk to him about national inde- 
 pendence and national domain, so long as the bones of his murdered 
 brethren lie bleaching on the prairies unavenged. Treble the bless- 
 ings proposed to be gained by this negotiation will be considered 
 poor and valueless when weighed against that proud and high resent- 
 ment which the soldier feels for wrongs received. In the day of 
 battle the animating cry was "Alamo." And why? Because it was . 
 known that the slaughterer of the Alamo was then in the field. It 
 was him that was sought. It was not against the poor and degraded 
 instruments of his tyranny that we warred. They fell, it is true, 
 ^before our avenging strokes like grass before a reaper's sickle, but 
 it was only because they stood in the way of our march to the 
 audacious Moloch. Through a forest of lances and a storm of can- 
 ister, we rushed upon the bold offender, and the rejoicing spirits of 
 the Georgia Battalion hailed their hour of vengeance come ; when lo ! 
 a frigid figure by name of policy rises between the victim and the 
 avenging blow, and shields the murderer with a piece of parchment 
 and a little sealing wax. The great difficulty in dealing with our 
 prisoner as his crimes deserve, arises, as I have already intimated, 
 from the fact that education will not permit us to strip him of his 
 ill-got honors, and view him in the attitude of a private individual. 
 We are taught, by what we see around us in early ©hildhood, to 
 reverence wealth and power ; and it is almost impossible in after life 
 to emancipate the mind from the slavish thraldom ; so that, when we 
 approach the guilty lords of creation, there is an involuntary shrink- 
 ing back, as if we deemed them privileged in enormity and not 
 amenable to us for their outrages. We feel that we should not deal 
 with them as we would with ordinary men. 
 
 If a peasant convicted of murder shall offer a bribe for the preser- 
 vation of his life, it meets with prompt and indignant repulsion; 
 but if a prince under like circumstances shall, in the fulness of his 
 power, propose some lordly favour, it is accepted with avidity, as 
 if it were upon our part a virtuous performance of duty. Besides 
 this, we flatter ourselves that there is nothing wrong in the trans- 
 action, because we are not personally and privately the beneficiaries 
 of the bargain ; but certainly the right, or wrong, doth not depend 
 upon who are the recipients — whether the public or an individual. 
 If we have a right thus to act for the good of the nation, we can 
 do the same for the good of a community ; and if for a community, 
 we can for a family ; and if for a family, why may not that family 
 be our own? This mode of reasoning will readily exhibit the fallacy, 
 if not the immorality, of that doctrine which draws a distinction 
 between a low and a high offender, and justifies a negotiation with 
 the one which would be odious and criminal with the other. Let 
 us apply it to the case before us. A man is in our custody as a 
 prisoner, who is guilty of the most exalted crimes — perfidy and 
 murder — and who, if he were a private individual, we should feel 
 ourselves bound in conscience to God and man to hang upon a 
 gallows as high as Haman's; but who, in consideration of his being 
 President of a mighty nation, a man of popularity and influence, is 
 allowed to purchase exemption from punishment and bid defiance 
 
—10— 
 
 to the united condemnation of justice and of vengeance ; and we hope 
 to escape all censure and reproach for this partial and mercenary 
 proceeding because it is done, not for our own, but for the public 
 good. Really, I know of no principle in that pure and sacred code 
 published upon smoking Sinai that will at all excuse this invidious 
 distinction and obvious selfishness in the administration of public 
 justice. The dignity of a criminal cannot sanctify his crimes ; neither 
 should his gold or his influence be permitted to purchase immunity. 
 It is in vain that the slayer of my people approach with his bond 
 and his signet ; though he bind himself upon a sheet of steel to fill 
 the public coffers with the gold of Ophir, and to exalt my nation 
 to the rank of Macedon, it shall not turn aside the course of natural 
 justice, which surely ought, for weal or woe, to fall on all alike. To 
 act up to this principle requires no ordinary moral effort. We have 
 to struggle against the force of instinct, education and habit. 
 
 But certain am I that no draft will ever be dishonored when fairly 
 drawn upon the conscience and integrity of this cabinet. I am only 
 endeavouring to convince them that the one which they are about 
 to discount is unworthy of acceptance, because it wants the endorse- 
 ment of reason. Without full reliance upon their high integrity, I 
 should not thus address myself to their understanding. It is because 
 I know them from personal acquaintance to be alive to all the 
 virtuous feelings and ennobling sentiments of the heart, that I now 
 appeal to them so earnestly to discard those antiquated and exploded 
 notions which have so long given immunity to guilt and thrown 
 unmerited protection around the gigantic villains of the world. In 
 the name of that freedom which despotism has so often crushed, 
 and in behalf of that humanity which hath been so ruthlessly vio- 
 lated, I call upon my associate adjudicators of a tyrant's fate to 
 shut their ears to his seductive overtures ; to turn from his proffered 
 blessings, and to banish from their minds every consideration except 
 the simple ends of justice. Scorning the suggestions of selfishness 
 and fear, let us look alone at the crimes and not at the criminal; 
 at wrongs received, and not at the favors tendered; and gazing with 
 a steady eye upon the high and exalted morality that knows no 
 high nor low, no rich nor poor in the administration of law, let us 
 march boldly onward to the simple line of right, and teach at least 
 one salutary lesson to the demons of mankind, that in this govern- 
 ment, young and feeble as she is, there is no security for crime, and 
 that the sword of justice entrusted to our hands to defend her rights 
 and avenge her wrongs, can pierce the purple robes of royalty as 
 easily as the plain raiment of the humble man. Let us do this and 
 receive the approbation of all posterity. 
 
 Do you hesitate ? I entreat you to consider the character of those 
 whose death we are called upon to avenge. They were no mercenary 
 soldiery nor hired menials. They were ornaments to the land they 
 left, the flowers of honour and the pride of chivalry. The history 
 of war cannot furnish a nobler band of patriotic heroes than those 
 who rallied around the standard of Fannin. I knew many, very 
 many, of them personally, and can testify to their generous spirit. 
 A braver people never hung the sabre on the thigh. In that dark 
 
—11— 
 
 and portentous period of our affairs, when the tempest of desolation 
 was thickening over the land, they nobly threw themselves between 
 the oppressor and the oppressed, and made their bosoms the shields 
 of our liberty, our homes and our firesides. 
 
 At the very first signal of alarm their banners were thrown to the 
 breeze and their bayonets brightened in the sunbeam. Those banners 
 are torn and the bayonets are broken. And where is the gallant 
 Battalion? Go ask the tyrant where. He who calmly sits in the 
 shade of yonder piazza, as if his bosom bore all peace within, can 
 tell you, if he will, that it was by the authority of his order that the 
 Spartan band, under the hope of liberty and home, was marched 
 from the holy sanctuary of God to the awful slaughter-field ; he can 
 tell you that whilst his brave General Urrea and his whole army 
 wept at the stern decree, himself alone rejoiced at the roar of the 
 musketry that stained the plain of Labahia, and spread the horrid 
 banquet to the bird of carnage. Never did the broad eye of day look 
 upon a fouler murder; never were a better and a braver people 
 sacrificed to a tyrant's ferocity. The most of them weue youthful 
 heroes. I doubt not that each received, on leaving home, the Spartan 
 injunction to bring back his father's shield, or be brought back 
 upon it. Gallant youths ! They did their duty well ; and their fame 
 will yet be the burthen of some ''high-toned Noel's harp and soft 
 Llewellyn's lay." Forgive me that I do not pour the "meed of one 
 melodious tear." I cannot weep for those whose souls have found 
 a "bright reversion in the sky.'' Their death inspires no other 
 feeling than a hallowed remembrance of their virtues, and a fixed 
 determination, if possible, to avenge their wrongs. If he by whose 
 orders they were basely murdered shall escape the thunders of retri- 
 bution, it may not be done by my approval. The blood of Fannin 
 and Fenner and the gallant Shackelfords, shall not plead Avith me 
 in vain. Whatever may be the honest views and feelings of others. 
 I beg permission to publish to every parent who mourns the loss of 
 a bright-eyed son in that all horrible transaction, that there is at 
 least one in the councils of this Republic who is mindful of the 
 vengeance due his gallant boy, and who will not forego its payment 
 even for a nation's weal. I cannot, will not, compromise with a 
 crimson-handed murderer. Let it not be told in Gath, nor published 
 in the streets of Askalon, that we took the gold of our foes in pay- 
 ment for the blood of our friends. 
 
 It will be perceived that I have said but little in reference to the 
 policy of the measure which I propose. I have purposely avoided it, 
 because it is useless to discuss consequences when principle points 
 out the course. The main design of this letter has been to unfold 
 the feelings and motives which have influenced my decision in the 
 case, and as policy has had but small share in the matter, I have 
 been unwilling to enter into any formal argument upon this branch 
 of the subject. Yet, nevertheless, if so disposed, I believe it were 
 not difficult to prove that the course I urge is as safe on the score 
 of policy as it is sound in principle. The release of Santa Anna will 
 not facilitate the recognition of our independence in ]\Iexico, because 
 when he returns to his country he will be wanting both in the will- 
 
—12— 
 
 ingness and the ability to bring it about; and his execution cannot 
 retard the end, because his death will be as acceptable in Mexico 
 as in Texas, and can engender no additional hatred and hostility to 
 this country. 
 
 If he return, public opinion will not permit him to promote our 
 wishes ; and if he die, it will operate as a salutary warning to those 
 who shall lead a future expedition into this country. It will be a 
 guarantee against the savage butchery of prisoners, and confine the 
 movements of the enemy within the limits of civilized warfare. If 
 it be for a moment supposed that it might cause the concentration 
 and return of the Mexican forces, now retiring from our borders, 
 I can only answer that nothing can be more improbable ; but if true, 
 it will not be a movement of much alarm ; for the same chivalry that 
 strewed the plains of San Jacinto can just as easily reap the re- 
 maining harvest. I have always thought, and still believe, that our 
 sole reliance should be upon our swords and not upon the faith of 
 Santa Anna. If the armies now on a retreat shall dare a counter- 
 march, there will not be in the next battle a Mexican left to tell the 
 tale of their defeat ; and if another expedition against us shall be 
 gotten up in the fall or spring thereafter, there will come into our 
 country such a cavalcade of gallant heroes as will make their chiv- 
 alry to skip. They may pour their effeminate thousands upon our 
 borders as "numerous as the leaves that strew the Vale of Valam- 
 brosa," but we will only sweep them from the soil indignant with 
 a hurricane of death. The very first army that turns its face to the 
 east will awaken a war which will move onward and onward over 
 the broad prairies of the West, knowing no termination until it 
 reaches the walls of Mexico, where we shall plant the standard of 
 the Single Star and send forth our decrees in the voice of our 
 artillery. 
 
 Such, gentlemen, are my humble views of this embarrassing ques- 
 tion, submitted with a little more prolixity than I had promised or 
 intended. If aught that I have said, however, can have any influence 
 upon the decision of the cabinet, I shall not regret the labour be- 
 stowed or the time consumed ; but if otherwise, I can only promise 
 to yield a cheerful acquiescence to whatever course may be deter- 
 mined upon by a majority of our body. Harmony in our councils 
 is indispensable at this crisis to the maintenance of official confidence 
 and the preservation of public tranquillity; but as unanimity of 
 sentiment on this occasion is not to be had, I can do nothing further 
 to avoid the evils of dissension than to co-operate with the cabinet 
 in the execution of this final decision, which I shall do the more 
 readily because I have so many reasons to know that whatever is 
 ordered will be aimed for the best. That my feelings and opinions 
 may not be misapprehended, I beg leave, by way of recapitulation, 
 to state that toward the common soldiers among our Mexican pris- 
 oners, I cherish no malice or resentment, looking upon the most of 
 them in the light of unwilling instruments in the hands of tyranny; 
 neither can I perceive in the conduct of the officers any particular 
 acts which might be considered as legitimate in a soldier devoted 
 to his profession, or in a patriot enlisted in the cause of his country. 
 
—13— 
 
 These, after an exchange of prisoners, I would retain in the custody 
 of the government until the conclusion of the war; but, viewing 
 General Santa Anna altogether in a different attitude, I would adopt 
 the course in reference to him which I have already urged. His 
 crimes being sanguinary, I would read his punishment from the Code 
 of Draco. . . 
 
 With the highest confidence in the integrity and patriotism ot the 
 cabinet, I have the honor, gentlemen, to subscribe myself. 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 MIRABEAU B. LAMAR, 
 
 Secretary of War. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGREJ 
 
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