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PAPERS OF MIRABEAU BUONAPARTE LAMAR
No. 1680 1840 Jan 1 8, M. B. LAMAR, [AUSTIN, TEXAS]. SPECIAL MES- SAGE RELATING TO DEMANDS OF BRITISH GOVERN- MENT AGAINST THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS 18 Executive Department January 8th. 1840 To the Honorable Senate and ·house of Representatives, . Gentlemen:- I have the honor to submit .to your mature and deliberate consideration, various documents, setting forth and relating to several demands which have been made _upon this Govern- ment by the, Government of Great Britain, in behalf of certain o.f its subjects. The documents A. B. 0 and D. relate principally to the capture and detention of the British Schooner Eliza Russell by the Texian Schooner Invincible in the year 1837. By inspection of these papers you will discover that my predecessor has formally acknowledged the sum or £865, to be justly due to Capt. Russell, the master of the captured schooner, and it 'is now too late to scrutinize the equity of that demand. I would therefore respectfully suggest the propriety of making an ap- propriation to enable the Executive to satisfy the claim, when it shall be presented by the proper authority. By document 0. it will be percei.ed that Capt. Russell has advanced an additional claim founded on the same cause amounting to £988, making the whole demand £1,835. In relation to his additional, and as I conceive, unauthorised demand, I tak pleasure in referring you to the letter 19 of the acting Secretary of State addressed to John Crawford. Esq. the English consul at New Orleans, as copied in document A. By reference to the last communication~ 0 from Lord Palmerton, her British Uajesty's principal Secretary of State for foreign affairs, it will be per- ceived that the amount demanded in behalf of Capt. Russell is confined to the claim as first presented, and which had already been recognized as just by this Government. The inference is plain and reasonable that the extravagant additional claim is abandoned. The claim of Messrs Lizardi & Co. for goods alleged to have been taken by the Texian schooners Brutus and Invincible, from the English schooner Little pen, amounting as stated by Lord Palmerton, to £2636 - 14s. - 3d. is so entirely unfounded in any facts that have been presented to this Government that I cannot feel it incumbent uppon me to make any suggestion to Congress relative to its liquidation. Charged with the Executive authority of the Government, it will be my care to \nvestigate the claim whenever it shall be properly presented for ad- iustment. As yet no specifications and no vouchers have been adduced in support of it, unless indeed the certificate8 of two Mexican officers (the enemies of Texas) may be considered as such. For myself, I regard these as equally destitute of authority and credibility. This "Copy. ~n no. 361, p. 192. The original is in the Texas archives, House Journal, Secretary of State Department. "Transcribed in the Texas archives, Records of the Department of State, Book 36, p. 102. '"Oct. 23, 1839. In the Texas archives, English Diplomatic Correspondence.
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