From October 11, 1835, the date of the formation of the Permanent Council, to October 22, 1836, when the permanent government of the Republic of Texas was inaugurated, governmental functions were performed by five different bodies: (1) The Permanent Council, October 11, 1835, to November 1, 1835; (2) the Consultation, November 1 to November 14, 1835, which body organized a provisional government whose organ was (3) the General Council, which acted from November 14, 1835, to March 1, 1836; (4) the General Convention, March 1 to March 17, 1836, which put forth the declaration of Texas independence, framed and adopted a constitution, and provided a government ad interim; and (5) the government ad interim, which was established on March 16, 1836, and exercised authority until October 22, 1836, when General Sam Houston, the duly elected president of the republic, was installed.

The separation from Mexico was begun under the Permanent Council. This body was without resources, and its financial operations were insignificant.1 Receipts under it amounted to $374.30, of which $316 was from loans and $58.30 from land dues.2 The entire amount was expended on the army.

The receipts under the Consultation were larger on account of donations received. The agent at New Orleans reported subscriptions amounting to $7,000; and other donations aggregating $3,200 were made.3 A loan of $500 was also contracted with Thomas F. McKinney, a member of the Consultation body.4

Upon the establishment of the provisional government, an organization of the finances was attempted. A treasurer was appointed and his duties defined.1 The offices of auditor and comptroller were also created, and it was made the duty of 1hese officers to audit all claims, and to draw drafts on the treasurer, the auditor signing, the comptroller countersigning them.2

1 The Journal of the Permanent Council is printed in the Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, vol. 17, pp. 252-78.

-'Journal of the Consultation, in Gammel, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 513. Barker, in Pol. Sci. Quart., vol. 19, p. 614.

3 Journal of the Consultation in Gammel, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 524. Barker, in Pol. Sci. Quart., vol. 19, p. 622.

4 Journal of the Consultation, in Gammel, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 521.

The main resource of Texas in her struggle for independence was her public lands. These she offered to all who would engage in her service, and upon them she based the use of her public credit. The General Council in November and December, 1835. granted a bounty of 640 acres, later increased to 800 acres, to each private and non-commissioned officer in the regular army, and volunteers were rewarded according to the length of their service.3 But land was a drug on the market, and had to be supplemented by other means of getting revenue.

The need of immediate funds made the resort to direct taxes impracticable, so customs - or import - and tonnage duties were used instead.4 On December 12, 1835, a customs duty of 20 per cent was levied upon goods entitled to a drawback in the port from which they were shipped, and 10 per cent upon goods not so entitled. Goods brought by immigrants for their own use were exempt.5 A supplementary ordinance of December 15, 1835, imposed a tonnage duty of $1.25, and a specific duty of 12 1/2 cents a gallon on whiskey, American gin, rum, and brandy.6 On December 27, 1835, another law was passed which levied 25 per cent and 15 per cent duties respectively upon goods entitled and goods not entitled to drawbacks, left the specific and tonnage duties unchanged, and put bacon, pork, breadstuff's and lumber for building on the free list.7 This early revision of the customs law was done primarily to safeguard the collection of duties by requiring larger bonds from collectors and to prevent the delay in payment of duties permitted by the first act.1 The amount derived from these duties is unknown. It must have been small however, for the acts were anticipated by the merchants.2 An incomplete report of the collector for the department of Brazos shows receipts up to July 31, 1836, of only $797.62. Furthermore, the Convention decided March 12, 1836, that the provisional government had exceeded its authority in levying customs duties, declared the acts null and void, and resolved to refund the amounts paid.3

1 Ordinances and Decrees, in Gammel, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 928.

2 Ibid., p. 1003.

3 Ibid., pp. 926, 952, 991.

4 The committee on finance, reporting November 27, 1835, rejected dependence on the sale of public land and the taxation of land because they required too much time to get into operation. It recommended customs and tonnage duties, an export duty on cotton, and a direct tax on each slave; Proceedings of the General Council in Gammel, op. cit., vol. 1, 594.

5 Gammel, op. cit., vol. 1, pp. 983-9.

6 Ibid., p. 990.

7 Ibid., pp. 1008-17.

Stamp duties, land dues, and the sale of public property were also sources of a small revenue.4 But these, as were the taxes, were received to an undetermined amount in the form of audited drafts.

A more important source of ready means was donations from sympathetic friends in the United States and from Texans. These amounted to about $25,000 in money and in goods, and were usually used in the place where they were given in the purchase of munitions of war and in the equipment of volunteers.

The most important source of available funds, however, was loans.5 An ordinance and decree of December 5, 1835, authorized a loan of $1,000,000 and provided for three commissioners who should seek to negotiate it in the United States. The commissioners appointed were Stephen F. Austin, Branch T. Archer, and William H. Wharton. Either in a body or individually they visited New Orleans, Nashville, Louisville, Washington, Philadelphia, New York, and Richmond in their efforts to place the: loan.1 The bonds were to be of the denomination of $1000, to bear interest not exceeding 10 per cent, and to be redeemable in not less than five years nor more than ten years.2 On the basis of this law two loans aggregating $250,000 were made in New Orleans in January, 1836. They were both subscribed by syndicates. The first, known as the Triplett Loan, was for $200,000, ten per cent of which was paid down. The second, known as the Erwin Loan, was for $50,000, and, according to Gouge, $45,802 of it was received.3 Although nominally loans, these were really contracts for the purchase of land. According to the terms granted by the commissioners, should the subscribers elect to take land in payment, they were to have priority in its location over all grants made after the date of the loan. Such opposition was manifested against this privilege of priority, on the ground that it was unjust to the soldiers and others in the actual service, that the government refused to ratify the terms, and proposed to refund the money.4 Compromise was attempted and bickerings followed, but the matter was finally adjusted on the basis of a land payment.5 These two loans, with several smaller ones, yielded, it is estimated, about $100,000.6

1 proceedings of the General Council, December 19, 1835, in Gammel, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 683.

2 Proceedings of the General Council, January 4, 1836; ibid., p. 734.

3 Proceedings of the Convention, in Gammel, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 886.

4 The committee of the General Council reported in November 27, 1835, that $1,678.77 had been received from land dues, and $250 from the sale of stamped paper. From the sale tof supplies captured in December, 1835, $1,271.99 was received in the form of promissory notes; Barker, in Pol. Sci. Quart., vol. 19, pp. 625-6.

5 In their report on November 27, 1835, the committee on finance said: "Your committee have not been able to fix upon a project possessing in greater degree all the essential requisites of speedy operation, and combining celerity and certainty in its accomplishment, than that suggested by a loan"; Proceedings of the General Council, in Gammel, op. cit., vol. 1, 596.

Finally, on January 20, 1836, the issue of $150,000 of treasury notes was authorized. The notes were to be in denominations of from $1 to $1000, were receivable in payment of public lands and dues, and were redeemable with any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.7 One of the last acts also of the Convention was to respond to President Burnet's suggestion to authorize the executive to issue 8% treasury notes to "an amount adequate to the exigencies of the country.1 There is no evidence, however, that there were any notes issued under either of these acts.

1 Texas Diplomatic Correspondence, vol. 1, p. 111.

2 Gammel, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 948. Texas Diplomatic Correspondence, vol. 1, pp. 51-52.

3 Fiscal History of Texas, p. 53. Texas Diplomatic Correspondence, vol. 1, pp. 55, 57.

4 President Burnet's message, October 4, 1836.

5 Acts of June 3, 1837, and May 24, 1838; Gammel, op. cit., vol. 1, pp. 1289, 1499.

6 Barker, in Pol. Sci. Quart., vol. 19, p. 634.

7 Gammel, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 1033. This ordinance was entitled an "Ordinance and decree for the better accommodation of the claims against the government of Texas." When it was under discussion in the General Council an amendment was proposed by which "all persons should be obliged or bound" to take the notes. On the vote the Council was divided, but the president voted in the negative and thereby defeated the proposal that they should be a legal tender. Proceedings of the General Council; ibid., p. 748. The loan commissioners, Austin, Archer, and Wharton, writing from Nashville, Tenn., to Governor Smith, on February 24, 1836, recommended the issue of treasury notes; Texas Diplomatic Correspondence, vol 1, pp. 71, 72.

The total public debt on August 26, 1836, was estimated to be $1,250,000. This amount was made up as follows: loans, $100,-000; army, $412,000; navy, $112,000; supplies, $450,000; civil and contingent expenses, $118,000; not itemized, $60,000. It represents the small cost of independence which was handed down to the permanent government.2

1 Proceedings of the Convention; Gammel, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 903.

2 Letter of Morfit, President Andrew Jackson's agent to Texas, to Secretary Forsyth, September 4, 1836, in House Executive Document, 24th Cong. No. 35. U. S. Doc. 635. Barker, in Pol. Sci. Quart., vol. 19, p. 635.