The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 42, July 1938 - April, 1939 Page: 50
446 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
reached Nacogdoches from San Felipe, and informed the com-
mittee :
The people I saw & con ersed with along & on the road
to this place did not attach any blame to the Council for
deposing Smith-those persons that did not approve of it,
seemed indifferent and careless about it.
The citizens of Nacogdoches thought it "a most ridiculos and
outrageous affair to write such a Message."55 The letters indicate
that both the Council and Smith had their partisans, and that
the mass of the population was largely disinterested.
The Convention held the disruption of the Provisional Govern-
ment to be a matter of little importance, and paid scant heed to
the affair. Brown asserts positively that Smith was triumphantly
vindicated by the Convention,6 since that body declared inde-
pendence and continued Sam Houston as commander-in-chief. It
is difficult, however, to see the relation between these acts of the
Convention and the vindication of Smith. To be sure, he was a
friend of Houston and was also in favor of independence, but
the policy of the Convention can scarcely be looked upon as vin-
dication of Smith in his dispute with the Council, and could have
been no more than a vindication of his personal opinion-an opinion
that was common to practically all leaders of Texas by March,
1836. For a declaration of independence to be a vindication of
Smith it would at least be necessary to show that all members of
the Council were opposed to independence, and this not even
Brown attempts.
The Convention neither condemned nor vindicated either Smith
or the Council. Their time was needed for the consideration of
matters of more importance. It is true, to be sure, that the Con-
vention refused to entertain the articles of impeachment pre-
pared by the Council. It is also true that the request of Smith
that his answer be given permanent form by being printed with
the journals of the Council was not granted. This request was
contained in a wordy document of vindication and explanation
presented to the Convention by Smith, and is as follows:
ssWyatt Hanks to the Council and Robinson, February 2, 1830, Con-
sultation Papers, Vol. I, Texas State Library.
56Brown, History of Texas, I, 565.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 42, July 1938 - April, 1939, periodical, 1939; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101107/m1/58/?rotate=90: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.