for some three hours, but with little effect. The Texan schooner Invincible took and sent into port as a prize the Mexican schooner Obispo, of eighty tons; and the Brutus captured and sent in the schooner Telegraph. The Texans also made repeated landings along the coast, and burnt eight or nine towns. This, though sufficiently annoying to the enemy, and in accordance with their mode of warfare, has not been considered, in modern times, as the most humane way of conducting a war. Another vessel, the Eliza Russel, of one hundred and eighty tons, belonging to English subjects, which was taken by the Invincible off the Alicranes and brought into Galveston, not being freighted with a contraband cargo, was afterwards properly restored, with damages, by the Republic."

Page 216, volume 2, the same historian says:

"Colonel John H. Wharton, desirous of making an effort to release his brother from the prison of Matamoras, obtained permission and a flag, and proceeded with thirty Mexican prisoners to that town to make an exchange, but on landing he was made a prisoner and confined in a dungeon. After an imprisonment of six days he made his escape and returned to Texas. In the meantime his brother, William H. Wharton, through the aid of the wellknown Captain Thompson of the Mexican navy, also escaped and reached home. It was intended that Thompson should desert the enemy's service and leave with him; but Thompson's departure was precipitated by some information given to the Mexican authorities, and he arrived in Texas before either of the Whartons. This barbarous conduct on the part of the enemy induced the President of Texas to readmit the granting of letters of marque and reprisal against them, which he had suspended on his entrance into office.

“On the 25th of August, the Brutus and the Invincible arrived off the bar at Galveston, having in tow a Mexican armed schooner, which they had captured near the banks of Campeachy. On the same evening the Brutus and the prize entered the harbor, but the Invincible could not get in. On the following morning the latter was attacked by two of the enemy's armed brigs. The Brutus, in attempting to go out to her aid, ran aground; so the Invincible was obliged to continue the unequal contest alone during the day; towards evening she attempted a retreat, but struck on the breakers near the south-east channel. The crew landed in safety, but during the night the vessel went to pieces. The Invincible was a favorite craft in the Texan navy, and her loss much regretted."

The last remaining vessel of the old navy, the Brutus, was lost during the equinoctial gale of 1837, in the harbor of Galveston; at which time fourteen or fifteen vessels then in port were destroyed or seriously injured, and nearly the entire city flooded by the water of the bay in its exit before

a sudden norther, just after having been filled by a strong south-east gale of several days continuance.

After a three-months' laborious session at Columbia, the first session of the Congress of Texas adjourned to meet at the newly laid out city of Houston, on the 5th of May.

On the 2d of March, 1837, the Congress of the United States passed the bill recognizing the independence of Texas; and during the next year commercial treaties were negotiated with France and Great Britain, though the latter insisted upon considering Texas as a part of the Mexican Republic.

Notwithstanding the Mexican invasion in 1836, and the absence of so many farmers in the army, the season was favorable, and good crops were made. The year 1837 was also a good crop year. It was estimated that the cotton crop amounted to fifty thousand bales. A heavy tide of immigration was setting towards Texas, and a profitable commerce carried on at its principal seaports. There was regular steam communication with New Orleans, and a fine class of sail vessels between New York and the Texas coast. Towns were multiplying with great rapidity, and the prospect was encouraging for the future.

Under the Constitution, the first President held office only two years; though after the first term the Presidential term was three years. At the election held September 3d, 1838, Mirabeau B. Lamar was elected President, and David G. Burnet Vice President.*

*During the summer, two of the gentlemen most prominent as candidates for President took themselves out of the canvass by suicide. (See James Collinsworth and Peter W. Grayson). The following were the votes cast at the election: For President, Lamar, 6,995; for Robert Wilson, 252; total 7,247. For Vice President, D. G. Burnet, 3,952; A. C. Horton, 1,917; Joseph Rowe, 1,215.

The following were the principal officers during this Presidential term: S. F. Austin, R. A. Irwin, and J. Pinckney Henderson, Secretaries of State; Thomas J. Rusk, William S. Fisher, Bernard E. Bee, George W. Hockley, Secretaries of War; Henry Smith, Secretary of the Treasury; S. Rhodes Fisher, William M. Shepperd, Secretaries of the Navy; J. Pinckney

Henderson, Peter W. Grayson, John Birdsall, A. S. Thurston, Attorney Generals; Robert Burr, Post Master General; E. M. Pease, Francis R. Lubbock, Comptrollers; John W. Moody, First Auditor; J. G. Welshinger, Second Auditor; William G. Cooke, Stock Commissioner; William H. Wharton, Memucan Hunt, Anson Jones, Ministers to the United States; J. Pinckney Henderson, Minister to Great Britain and France; W. F. Catlett, Secretary of Legation to the United States; George S. McIntosh, Secretary of Legation to Great Britain and France.

4T4

CHAPTER II.

LAMAR'S ADMINISTRATION-TROUBLE AT NACOGDOCHES-A NEW NAVY-AUSTIN SELECTED AS THE PERMANENT CAPITOL-NEW COLONIES-REPUBLIC OF THE RIO GRANDE-SANTA FE EXPEDITION—ITS MISCARRIAGE, AND THE CAUSES.

L

AMAR'S ADMINISTRATION.—General Lamar was formally inaugurated on the 10th of December, 1838. The ceremonies occurred in front of the Capitol, Houston, in the presence of an immense concourse of people, who were delighted with the sentiments expressed by the incoming Executive. In his inaugural he said: "The character of my administration may be anticipated in the domestic nature of our government and the peaceful habits of the people. Looking upon agriculture, commerce, and the useful arts, as the true basis of all National strength and glory, it will be my leading policy to awaken into vigorous activity the wealth, talent, and enterprise of the country; and, at the same time, to lay the foundation of those higher institutions for moral and mental culture without which no government on democratic principles can prosper, nor the people long preserve their liberties."

The President took ground against the annexation of Texas to the United States, and in his regular message strongly advocated a National bank, and a system of popular and liberal education. It was during his administration that Congress laid the foundation of our school fund, by setting aside fifty leagues of land for a university, and three leagues for each county in the Republic.

In the summer of 1838, a considerable number of the Mexican citizens of Nacogdoches-Captain Antonio Manchaca, who visited them, said 125 and a few Biloxi Indiáns