MUCH ESTEEMED SIR: In fulfillment of the duties which patriotism and
honor impose upon a public man, I came to this country at the head of
6,000 Mexicans. The chances of war, made inevitable by circumstances,
reduced me to the condition of a prisoner, in which I still remain, as
you may have already learned. The disposition evinced by General Samuel
Houston, the commander in chief of the Texan army, and by his successor,
General Thomas J. Rusk, for the termination of the war; the decision
of the President and cabinet of Texas in favor of a proper compromise
between the contending parties, and my own conviction, produced the
conventions of which I send you copies inclosed, and the orders given
by me to General Filisola, my second in command, to retire from the
river Brasos, where he was posted, to the other side of the river
Bravo del Norte.
As there was no doubt that General Filisola would religiously comply, as
far as concerned himself, the President and cabinet agreed that I should
set off for Mexico, in order to fulfill the other engagements, and with
that intent I embarked on board the schooner _Invincible_, which was
to carry me to the port of Vera Cruz.
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