WRITINGS OF Sui HousToN, 1838
204
To THE TEXAS CONGRESS 1
Executive Department, Texas City of Houston, April 22, 1838
Gentlemen: ·The President has the pleasure of presenting to the notice and consideration of the honorable Congress, the ac- companying report of the honorable secretary of the Navy, and commending the same to the favorable deliberations of your body. It has to be remarked, that at the commencement of the last Congress not one cent was placed at the disposition of the Ex- ecutive. It was understood that a blockade of our whole coast was certainly to take place ;-a partial one for a while did exist. In this emergency the action of the Department arose from a jealous regard to the public interest. I trust benefit to the country has resulted, as will be seen by the erection of a Navy Yard. It is important to the interest of Texas that she should possess the means and facilities of repairing her ·own vessels, and not be compelled to resort to foreign ports. Sam Houston. 1 The Jou1-rtal of the House of Representatives of the Repnblic of Texas, 2d Cong., Adj. Sess., 1837-1838, p. 39. The Secretary of the Navy's report was not printed in the J<no-nal and has not been found.
To THE TEXAS SENATE 1
Executive Department, Texas City of Houston, 23rd April, 1838.
Gentlemen of the Senate: The Executive has the pleasure of submitting to your Honorable Body a convention:? entered into on the 11th Inst., between the Honorable R. A. lrion, 3 Secretary of State of the Republic of Texas, and the Honorable Alcee La Branche,4 Charge d'Affaires from the Government of the United States. The Executive is satisfied of the fairness of the transaction, and that it is as favorable to the interests of this Republic as it had any right to anticipate. The President, therefore, requests of his constitutional advisers, the Honorable Senate, an approval and ratification of the same, that the odium which has heretofore attached to this country and its authorities may no longer have reason to exist. Full restitution having been made to the Gov- ernment of the United States for all just demands, it is to be
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