H. Everitt, of Jasper, nominated Richard Ellis, of Red. River, who was unanimously elected. H. S. Kimble was elected secretary; E. M. Pease, assistant secretary; Iram Palmer, sergeant at arms; John A. Hizer, doorkeeper, and M. Saul, engrossing clerk.

Mr. George C. Childress offered the following:

Resolved, That the president appoint a committee, to consist of five delegates, to draft a Declaration of Independence.

Adopted. Whereupon the president appointed as the committee, Mr. Geo. C. Childress, of Collin, James Gaines, of Sabine, Edward Conrad, of Refugio, Collin McKinney, of Red River, and Bailey Hardeman, of Matagorda.

On the second day, March 2d, Mr. Robert Potter moved the appointment of a committee of one from each municipality, to draft a constitution for the (contemplated). Republic of Texas, which was carried, and Messrs. Martin Parmer, chairman, Robert Potter, Chas. B. Stewart, Edwin Waller, Jesse Grimes, Robert M. Coleman, John Fisher, John W. Bunton, James Gaines, Lorenzo de Zavala, Stephen H. Everitt, Bailey Hardeman, Elijah Stapp, William C. Crawford, Claiborne West, James Power, Jose Antonio Navarro, Collin McKinney, William Menifee, William Motley and Michael B. Menard were appointed the committee.

On the same day, March 2d, Mr. Childress, chairman of the committee, reported the draft of a Declaration of Independence. Mr. Houston moved that the report be received. by the Convention, which was done. Gen. Sam Houston introduced the following resolution:

Resolved, That the Declaration of Independence, reported by the committee, be adopted, that the same be engrossed and signed by the delegates of this Convention.

And the question being put, the resolution was unanimously adopted.

After the Declaration of Independence, the Convention* was engaged until the 15th in preparing the Constitution. On the 17th of March the Constitution was adopted, and a Government, ad interim, inaugurated, with David G. Burnet, President; Lorenzo De Zavalla, Vice-President, and Sam Houston, Commander-in-Chief of the army in the field. The news of the stirring events in the west, probably hastened the adjournment of the Convention; and soon afterward the President and his Cabinet removed from Washington to Harrisburg.†

* The Convention was composed of the following members: Municipality of Austin-Charles B. Stewart and Thomas Barnett; of Brazoria-James Collingsworth, Edwin Waller, Asa Brigham and J. S. D. Byrom; of Bexar-Francis Ruis, J. Antonio Navarro, Jesse B. Badgett and William Motley; of Colorado-William Menifee and William D. Lacey; of Gonzales--John Fisher and Matthew Caldwell; of Nacogdoches-John S. Roberts, Robert Potter, Charles S. Taylor and Thomas J. Rusk; of Refugio-James Power and Sam Houston; of Shelby-Martin Parmer and Sidney O. Pennington; of Sabine-James Gaines and William Clark, Jr.; of Harrisburg-Lorenzo de Zavala and Andrew Briscoe; of JasperGeorge W. Smyth and S. H. Everett; of Jackson-Elijah Stapp; of Jefferson-Claiborne West and William B. Scates; of Liberty--M. B. Menard, A. B. Harden and J. B. Wood; of Bastrop--John W. Bunton, Thomas J. Gazley and Robert M. Coleman; of Milam-Sterling C. Robertson and George C. Childress; of Matagorda--Bailey Hardeman and S. Rhodes Fisher; of San Patricio-John Turner and John W. Bower; of Washington-Benjamin B. Goodrich, James G. Swisher, George W. Barnett and Jesse Grimes; of San Augustine-E. O. Legrand and Stephen W. Blount; of Red River-Robert Hamilton, Collin McKinney, A. H. Latimer, Samuel P. Carson, Richard Ellis and William C. Crawford; of Goliad-David Thomas and Edward Conrad.

†The following were the principal officers in President Burnet's Cabinet, appointed at the organization of the Government: Samuel P. Carson, Secretary of State; Thomas J. Rusk, Secretary of War; Bailey Hardeman, Secretary of the Treasury; Robert Potter Secretary of the Navy; David Thomas, Attorney-General. During this Government, which continued until the 22d of October, 1836, there were many changes, and the following named persons were, for a time, members of the Cabinet, viz:James Collingsworth and Wm. H. Jack, Secretaries of State; M. B. Lamar, F. A. Sawyer, A. Somervell and John A. Wharton, Secretaries of War; Peter W. Grayson, Attorney-General; Bernard E. Bee, Secretary of the Treasury; John R. Jones, Post-Master General. The following persons were also in office under the Government ad interim:-Asa Brigham, Auditor; H. C. Hudson, Comptroller; Benjamin C. Franklin, Judge for the District of Brazos.

We will now return to military operations. After the capture of San Antonio, many of the soldiers in Burleson's command, especially the Texans, returned to their homes. Others, encouraged by the success of the first essay at arms, were anxious for other enterprises. Captain Dimmit, at Goliad, was, perhaps, the first to suggest the capture of Matamoras, on the right bank of the lower Rio Grande. This was cordially seconded by Colonel Grant, who had assisted in the capture of San Antonio, and who had large landed possessions in Coahuila, and was a member of the Legislature dispersed by Cos. Johnson, Fannin and many others, were ready to enlist in the projected enterprise. The Executive Council, acting independently of the Governor, authorized Fannin to act as agent in getting up and commanding a force for the capture of Matamoras; and, at the same time gave similar authority to Johnson and Grant, and for the same purpose. Not to be outdone in such a movement, Governor Smith ordered General Houston to establish his headquarters in the west, and prepare for a descent upon the same place. Grant and Johnson enlisted many of the men who had come with the New Orleans Grays, and with such horses and munitions of war as could be collected around San Antonio, started for the south-west. They found Fannin in command at Goliad, and proceeded to the Nueces river, and Grant, with a party, went still further, to secure horses for Fannin's command. When Houston reached Goliad and learned of the organization of these independent expeditions, he gave up all pretensions to the command, and was elected a member of the Convention from Refugio. Dimmit, at Houston's suggestion, retired to Victoria. Neil, who succeeded Johnson at San Antonio, had left that place in command of Wm. B. Travis.

CHAPTER IV.

SANTA ANNA'S TEXAS PROGRAMME-FALL OF THE ALAMO, AND FATE OF ITS BRAVE GARRISON-URREA IN THE SOUTH-WEST-DEATH OF GRANT, MORRIS, &c-WARD AND KING AT REFUGIO-GOLIAD EVACUATED-BATTLE OF COLITA-THE FANNIN MASSACRE--REFLECTIONS ON THE CONDUCT OF THE CAMPAIGN.

ON the 11th of May, 1835, Santa Anna gained a decisive

victory over Governor Garcia, near Zacatecas, completing the total destruction of the Republican party in Mexico. Texas was now the only State in which his authority was disputed; and that able general immediately commenced his preparations for the subjugation of Texas. He proposed to send two columns into the province. General Urrea was ordered to Matamoras, to take one division along the coast to Goliad, Victoria, &c., while the President-General, himself with the main division, was to enter the province via Presidio, and thence to San Antonio, San Felipe, et cetera. Toward the last of January, 1836, Santa Anna reached Saltillo, and Guerrero, by the middle of February. From this place he wrote to Senior Tornel, Minister of War, giving the outlines of his programme in reference to Texas. It was "to drive from the province all who had taken part in the revolution, together with all the foreigners who lived near the sea coast, or the borders of the United States; to remove far into the interior those who had not taken part in the war; to vacate all lands and grants of land owned by non-residents; to remove from Texas all who had come to the province, and were not entered as colonists under Mexican rules; to divide among the officers and soldiers of the army the best lands, provided they would occupy them; to permit no Anglo-Amer