No. V.

Extract from the Diary of Lieutenant Colonel Portilla.

March 24, 1836.-In compliance with the orders of General Urrea, I set about rebuilding the place, beginning with the barracks, the prisoners working all day, those excepted who bear the character of officers. Their leader, Fanning, took his meal with me to-day, (beef and a bottle of wine.) He drank to the health of General Urrea. I returned him my thanks, and responded to his toast by drinking “The Country of the Mexicans." This same day arrived Colonel De La Vara, with twenty dragoons and thirty foot, of Yucatan, bringing in eighty prisoners, who had disembarked at Còpano, and were made prisoners.

March 26.—At seven in the evening, arrived a courier extraordinary from Bejar, from his Excellency General Santa Anna, notifying to me that the whole of the pri soners who had surrendered by force of arms were immediately to be shot, [ en el momento se pasen por las armas] with regulations as to the manner in which it was to be executed. (The original of this communication I have preserved.) I deferred it, for both myself and Col. Garay, to whom I communicated it, thought of nothing less than of such a thing. At eight the same evening, came a courier extraordinary from Guadalupe, from General Urrea, who said to me, among other things, "treat the prisoners with consideration, and particularly their leader, Fanning. Let them be employed in repairing the houses, and in erecting quarters, and serve out to them a portion of the rations which you will receive from the Mission of Refugio." How cruel is my state of uncertainty, my mind vacillating between these conflicting or ders! I passed the whole night restless and uneasy in mind.

March 27-At daybreak I came to a determination to fulfil the orders of his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, considering him as the superior I ought to obey. I gave orders for the whole garrison to form, and awaken the prisoners, (four hundred and forty-five in number) who were still asleep. (I ordered the eighty of this class who had come from Còpano, to be separated from the rest, inasmuch as their fate demanded consideration, because, when invading our territory, they were not taken with arms in their hands.) We formed ourselves into three divisions-the first, under the orders of the First Adjutant, D. Augustin Alcerrica; the second, under those of Captain Luis Balderas; and the third, of Captain Antonio Ramirez; to these officers I entrusted the execution of the order of the Supreme Government, and of the General-in-Chief. It was executed. A great struggle of feelings among the officers and soldiers-a profound silence! Sad at heart, I wrote to Gen. Urrea, expressing my regret at having been concerned in so painful an affair. I also sent off an official account of what I had done, to the General-in-Chief. The eighty prisoners of Còpano are still alive, and I asked for instructions from the General-inChief as to what was to be done with them."

DIVISION OF OPERATIONS, District of Goliad. In compliance with the definitive orders of his Excellency the General-in-Chief, which I received direct, to-morrow morning, at four o'clock, the prisoners sent by you to this fortress will be shot. I have not ventured to execute the same sentence on those who surrendered to Colonel Vara, at Còpano, being unacquainted with the particular circumstances of their surrender; and I trust you will be pleased to take upon yourself to save my responsibility in this regard, by informing me what I am to do with them.

GOLIAD, March 26, 1836.

To D. JOSE URREA, General of Division.

J. N. DE PORTILLA.

GOLIAD, March 27.

MY DEAR GENERAL: I feel very much distressed at what has occurred here; a scene enacted in cold blood having passed before my eyes, which has filled me with

horror. All I can say is, that my duty as a soldier, and what I owe to my country, must be my guarantee. My dear General, by you was I sent here; you thought proper so to do, and I remain here in entire conformity to your wishes. I came, as you know, voluntarily with these poor Indians to coöperate, to the best of my humble means, for my country's good. No man is required to do more than is within the scope of his abilities; and both they and myself have doubtless been placed here as competent to the purposes you had in view. I repeat it, that I am perfectly willing to do any thing, save and excepting the work of a public executioner, by receiving orders to put more persons to death. And yet, being but a subordinate officer, it is my duty to do what is commanded me, even though repugnant to my feelings. I am, General, your devoted and sincere friend,

That bosom's every thought and prayer,

Full well thou know'st where still they dwell

Lightly as winged thing of air,

Good steed, oh, thither bear him well!

A spirit still impels him on,

Be swift as spirit's flight thy speed,

And well, thy loyal service done,

Shalt thou repose, my gallant steed!

No moonbeam on our lonely path

Sheds gently down her silvery light,
And dark the tempest's howling wrath
O'erclouds the star-gemmed brow of night:
But little or of chill or storm

Hath that fond bosom thought or heed,
While still the flame can light and warm,
That burns within, my gallant steed!

Of W-bb, or Philip H-ne, their latest sponsors,
As worth their while to claim,

As giving them another chance to diddle men,
With the belief,

From time to time, that they are not the same
As they were once, sirs,

But that they have turned over a new leaf,
And have entirely done, sirs,

With all their old ideas of aristocracy;

And if the dear democracy,

Whom they are sorry they so oft have cheated, Will but forget how they 've before been treated, And just consent,

Good-naturedly to give their votes

To the old wolves in their new sheepskin coats, Believing them sincerely penitent,

And take them once more into favor,

To try them on their new behaviour,-
Indeed upon

Their word of hon

It was entirely changed in form and feature,
And by that name smelled marvellously sweeter,
Are you bound to believe it!

A truce, though, with such 'odorous comparisons,'
And to return to where our Ode begins,———
These modest "OUTS"

-I trust that that generic name will cover all,

Whether they're Webster's, Clay's, or Harrison's,
Stretching like one wide blanket over all

Those oddly mixed bed-fellows-(I've my doubts
Whether, with all their knack at turning,

They'll ever turn that name to that of "INS,"
For which they've been so long and fondly yearning)
These modest Outs, I say,

Will not be satisfied, Sir,

With claiming all the piety,

Decency, learning, money, and sobriety,
Of which it is well known they've the monopoly,
But they insist besides, Sir,

That by the grace of God, they properly,

With an inalienable right and title,

Or a possession which they chose to call so,
Own, very nearly, if not quite, "ALL
THE TALENTS" also!

There's an old saw in the democratic creed,
That honesty's the only policy—

It oft has served us well in hour of need!
And if the Whigs would but reflect a minute,

They, also, might the folly see,

Of any other principle;

But still, somehow, the deuce is in it!

All their experience has not made them sensible
Of this plain proposition.

For, whether from obliquity of vision,

Or love of opposition

To any thing a democrat may say,

-Although I grieve to hurt, in
The least, their feelings-it is very certain
They never have been able yet to see
This simple truth exactly in that way;

But giving it just the reversing twist,
They always will insist,

That policy's the only honesty!

But as, however,

We still profess to stand by the old maxim,
In the old-fashioned way, and to endeavour
To prove it, too, our acts in;

We must at least be honest, as I've said, it
Being in the long run

The only horse it's safe to bet upon.

Imprimis, then, there's no denying

The marvellous 'talent' that they have for lying! For certainly the fact is,

That this accomplishment they daily practise

Upon a scale that 's really quite sublime;

And so exhaustless the variety

Of their newspaper lies is,

-Lies of all shapes, complexions, sorts, and sizes, New-vamped and polished up from time to timeThat they would stuff

The stomach of an ostrich to satiety,

And sometimes fairly turn it—they're so tough!
Though it is said to be so fond

Of flints, knives, nails, and such like bagatelles.
And then as for their speeches,-from a B-ll's,
Down to the dirty dribblings of a B-nd,

I dare not undertake to speak!

'Twould take a week,

Nor would a volume be enough,

To do them justice in this point of view,
Which I should feel in honor bound to do.

To tell a handsome thumper