12 dated Augst 1st '46, (a copy of which you will find enclosed) expressing my surprise and regret at this information, and urg- ing him for reasons therein stated, that he would withdraw the order, and permit the volunteers to be mustered in. That letter was sent by express and in reply to it, I have only received a verbal communication; Major Fauntleroy being so ill that he could not write. The purport of the verbal communication is, that he is of opinion, that he cannot, consistently with the orders lately received by him from Genl. Taylor, muster these compa- nies into the service, which he very much regrets; but suggests the propriety of my writing to you upon the subject and in the meantime of keeping them in active service, expressing at the same time his belief that when the Department was apprized of all the circumstances attending the requisition made by Col. Harvey for these troops, that permission would yet be given to muster them into the service. My own opinion, based upon that sense of liberality and justice which has uniformly characterized all the acts of the administration wherever the rights of this State have been concerned, leads me to the same conclusion. I will not speak to you of the injustice which, under the peculiar circumstances of this case, will be done to the volunteers them- selves, should they not be received into the service-the expense which they have occurred in buying good horses, furnishing themselves with arms, blankets, and everything necessary for a full equipment. I place the necessity for these troops upon higher grounds-the protection and security of the frontier, and I deem it not improper to express to you my opinion, as given to Majr. Fauntleroy, that if these volunteers are disbanded, the Indians will, at once, commence their depredations upon the frontier, and collisions will ensue between them and the citizens, which will lead to the most disastrous results. The Comanches, another tribe bordering upon this State, when they see that there is no armed force upon the frontier to restrain their lawless propensi- ties, will not be able to withstand the temptation thus afforded of gratifying them. The citizens of the frontier will protect themselves, and retaliate whenever an occasion offers, and in a very short time a state of things will thus be brought about, which will greatly retard, if not entirely defeat, the wish of the genl. government, to settle the boundary line between us and those tribes, or make any treaty with them. The State of Texas, just admitted into the confederacy- having resigned to the Genl. Government all her available sources of revenue, and being compelled to resort to direct taxation for
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