WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1838
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been admitted to practise in the courts of Maine. He died March 3; 1851, and was buried at Paris, Maine. See Biogntphical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1927 (1928), p. 1021.
To JOHN P. BORDEN, LAND COMMISSIONER 1
City of Houston, 14th June, 1838
John P. Borden/ Esq., Sir, In reply to your official communication of the 11th Inst., I have the honor to reply in order as follows: Query 1st. "How are the boundaries of the different counties to be ascertained when the acts relative thereto are not suf- ficiently definite to admit of lines being run by surveyors for the purpose?" Ans. 1st. The defect is in the law. The President has no con- stitutional remedy. It belongs to the Legislative and Executive Departments of the Govnt. and in the face of the Constitution he will exercise no doubtful power.- Query 2nd. "When surveys have been imperfectly made, and where no title appears of record in this office, as is the case in the counties of Victoria, Goliad, and San Patricio, what steps are necessary to be taken in order to prevent the same lands from being located?" Ans. 2nd. Congress must make provision, as no power has been delegated to the Executive, nor Commissioner General; how- ever, the rights of the individuals should not, in the mean time, suffer. Query 3rd. "What particular sections of the country are to be pointed out, or reserved for the Cherokee and other friendly Indians, and what general instructions are necessary to surveyors in relation to them?" Ans. 3rd. The sections north of the Neches and San Antonio road and West of the Angelina & Sabine,-The grant made by the Consultation dated 13th Nov. 1835, should be a rule of con- duct for the action of the Commissioner General, as well as the Executive, and no survey within those limits should be recognized since 1833. Query 4th. "When any of t.he officers of the several Land offices has in the discharge of his duties gone contrary to the law and the instruction given, or has wholly neglected his official duty, what course ought to be pursued in order to remove him, and who has a right to do so?"
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