WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1848
53
States. Polk went on to say that Yucatan had not declared her inde- pendence, and therefore had been treated by the United States as a state of the Mexican Republic, and that her commissioner had not been received; nevertheless, the United States had treated her as a neutral in the war with Mexico. Polk ended his message by leaving the problem of finding some way to help Yucatan "to the wisdom and judgment of Congress to prevent Yucatan from becoming a colony of some European power, which in no event could be permitted," etc. See James D. Richardson, Messages and Pavers of the Presidents, IV, 581, 582. This message was referred to the appropriate committees and a bill was reported empowering the President to (1) take temporary occupation of Yucatan with the army and navy; (2) furnish the white population of Yucatan with arms, ammunition, and ordnance, to help them repel Indian hostilities and restore peace and security; (3) allow the President to accept the services of volunteer troops. See the A11pendix, Congressional Globe, 30th Cong., 1st Sess., April 29, 1848, p. 590. The debate on this bill then began. The Davis amendment was adopted on May 5 (see Ibid., 600) and was substituted for the entire bill. It reads: "Be it enacted-that the President be, and he is hereby authorized to accept the service of an equal number of volunteers to supply the place of such regular troops as are withdrawn from present duty to answer the exigent demand for immediate presence of a portion of the army in Yucatan: Provided their services be required. The same to be raised for service during the war with Mexico, agreeably to acts of May 13, 1845, and March 3, 1847." A lengthy summary of Houston's speech by the official reporter appears in the Congressional Globe, Part I, 30th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 738. It contains some matter that does not appear in the speech. =see Gammel, Laws of Texas, I, 1193. · This law is dated December 19, 1836. "Reference is made to the Santa Fe expedition, for brief accounts of which, see Yoakum, History of Texas, II, 312-365, passi?>i; Brown, History of Texas, II, 189-221; George Lockhart Rives, The United States and Mexico, 1821-1848, I, 480-484, 508-518, II, 203. For detailed account see, George W. Kendall, Ncwmtive of the Texan Santa Fe Expedition, 2 vols. Houston's memory of this date was not exactly accurate. While the Santa Fe Expedition was first talked of in 1840, it was not ready to start from a point near the city of Austin, until late in June, 1841.
JUNE, 1848-DECEMBER, 1848
REMARKS IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE, JUNE 2, 1848, ON THE BILL TO ESTABLISH TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT IN OREGQNl Mr. Houston. I propose, with the view of bringing thiR un- profitable, if not injurious discussion to a termination to offer the following amendment to be inserted after the word "equity," in the ninth line of the twelfth section, with the hope that it will render the bill acceptable to the Senators, and do away with the
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