| Office of the Eastern Texas Rail Road Co. |
| Nacogdoches |
|
July 8th 1861
|
| |
| To the Board of School Commissioners |
| Austin City Texas |
| |
| Gent. |
| We solicit information in regard to your
action upon our Power of Attorney, executed in favor of Mess. Moran
Brothers Citizens of the State and City of New York authorizing them
to receive the loan of the School fund to which our Road is entitled
under the several acts of the Legislature of our State. |
| Our late President accompanied by Game R.
Connell a Citizen of the State of New Jersey, and acting as agent of
the said Morans, started sometime ago to the City of Austin for the
purpose of receiving the loan of the School fund upon the first
section of 25 miles of our Road and carried with them the report of
the State Engineer and annual report of the Treasurer and Engineer of
the Company, as required by Law. |
| Our late President was taken sick, and did
not reach Austin. He responds to us however, that at first you refused
to deliver the Bonds to Mr. Cornell agent of said Morans as they were
our alien enemies being citizens of the City and State of New York, alleging
that the act would be treasonable and in violation of the laws of the
Confederate States. But that upon another interview with the Governor
and upon representations made to him that the said Morans were not
citizens of the U. S. but were citizens of England or agents of
an English House, & that it was the general wish of the people of
our part of the country who were interested in the Road, and in the
development of our country's resources by a quick & speedy
construction of the same, that the Governor had concluded that you
would deliver to Mr. Cornell agent of said Morans the bonds aforesaid,
and had or would accompany Mr. Cornell to Austin for the purpose of
delivering them to Him. Our late President being sick, and not able to
go, also delegated all the necessary power to said Cornell to
enable him to demand and receive said Bonds upon said first section of
25 miles of said Road. |
| We are anxious to know if the Bonds have
been delivered to Mr. Cornell the agent of said Morans, and upon what
authority he demanded and received the same, if they have been paid
out, whether upon the power of Attorney first mentioned, or upon the
authority delegated by our late President. If upon the first we cannot
conceive the motives that prompted you in paying the same to parties
who are our alien enemies, in violation of international law and the
laws of the Confederate States. And if the said Morans were
represented as being Citizens of England or agents of an English
House, to whom the bonds were to be paid, should you not have required
the testimony of disinterested persons to have established those
facts. (And if any mortgage be executed under such circumstances can
it be enforced against a Company?) If not upon the authority of the
first but the last, they have been delivered upon authority delegated
by our late President, which he had no right or power to confer. We
here enclose you a copy of our Charter, bylaws &c and call your
attention to Section 4 of Act of December 19th 1857, page 28 which
prescribes the authority by which any trust deed or mortgage is
executed. Notice also the by Law, under head of loans Article 14 page
21 and you will see in what manner & by what authority a trust
deed or mortgage shall be executed by our Company. There is no
Resolution or other act of our Board of Directors which authorizes the
execution of any mortgage bond or trust deed upon our Road in favor of
the State of Texas for Loans. And if any have been executed by the
former officers of our Company, should you not have required them to
exhibit the power and authority under which the same was executed. |
| And instead of its being the wish of the
people here who were directly & materially interested in our Road,
to have said Bonds delivered the opposite was the case, and the fact
of our being required to receive them at par and pay them out at
perhaps 30% discount was sufficient cause to justify us in wishing to
withhold them. We will only further say that Mess Moran Brothers are
citizens of the City and State of New York, have failed to comply with
their contract with us, and more particularly lately to deliver us 10
or 1100 tons of iron now at Galveston, to our great damage and serious
loss. And that the iron laid down on our Road on which they apply for
the Bonds was purchased in the City of New York and not in England. |
| By authority of the Board of Directors |
| Yr Obt Servant |
| James R. Arnold |
| President Eastern Texas Rail Road Company |
|