WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1837
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prudent regulations,) and the appointment of capable and honest agents, the happiest results might be anticipated for the country. The intercourse between the citizens and Indians should be reg- ulated by acts of congress which experience will readily suggest. The situation of Texas at this time would doubtless justify the establishment of martial law at such outposts as are detached from the body of our population, and it does seem to me that no injury could arise from the adoption of the measure. In this communication the executive has no hesitancy in pre- senting the claims of those who have been wounded and disabled in the defence of the liberties of Texas. It is the just policy of all governments, to reward those who have rendered great and important services to their country, and when disabled to secure to them pensions proportionate to their disability. The T'exas congress cannot eschew the necessity of adopting this course in relation to her brave and gallant defenders. The widows and orphans of those matchless spirits who perished in the Alamo, and the heroic and gallant band who were basely massacred on the plains of Goliad, have peculiar claims upon the sensibility and justice of the congress and the nation. It is to be regretted that the merits of this subject have not had the good fortune to claim the earlier notice of congress. Therefore it is recommended to their immediate attention and provision. In relation to Mexico, it is proper to state, that previous to the capture of the Texian schooner of war, Independence, by two armed Mexican brigs, the executive had issued an order for the release of all the prisoners of war, who had been taken at San Jacinto, which order, owing to the news of the capture, was con- termanded, for the purpose of reprisal, if the government of Mexico should again disregard or violate the laws of war. With a desire to release the chivalrous officers and gallant crew who had so bravely maintained the HONOR OF OUR FLAG, and the citizens of Texas, (among whom was our minister, the Hon. Wm. H. Wharton,) the government despatched Col. John A. Wharton, and thirty Mexican prisoners of war, with a cartel. He was treated by the authorities of Matamoras in a manner which has always characterized a vain and ignorant nation. Although Col. Wharton presented himself under the protection of a flag of truce, he represents that "he was not received by the Mexican authorities, but on the contrary was treated with every incivility and indignity that could be offered to an ordinary criminal or pirate." In addition to the prisoners sent with Col. Wharton, a
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