WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1838
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of his feelings, the disasters which are daily befalling his fellow citizens. Had the Major General and the military officers of this Government been held responsible to the President, who is com- mander-in-chief by the constitution, and made regular reports of their condition and the state of the frontier, the seat of Gov- ernment would have become the focus of intelligence, where he would have had it in his power to have made such details, and formed such combinations of force that he could have directed them to any point of the invaded frontier. As matters are now, intelligence of invasion must first be conveyed to the Major Gen- eral and he is the centre from whence all military radiation must strike. Where do the expresses from the Southwest resort to in time of calamity but to the seat of Government? They appeal to the President for aid. His reply is, I can give you none. I have not the power. They exclaim why not. The answer is simple, because Congress by a constitutional majority has deprived the Executive of his constitutional functions. Go to the Major Gen- eral who is 200 miles east, he has the men and the money at his disposition. The President has neither. During the session of Congress they may in an extraordinary manner exercise the func- tions of the Executive. They may fit out corps. They may act, influenced by every rumor circulated, but can that honorable body, remaining in session a few weeks or months, engaged with the multifarious subjects that present themselves, perfect or carry out a system of defence necessary to the salvation of the country as well as the Executive whose attention is perpetually attached to the subject of national defence, and preservation? or can the honorable Congress, uninfluenced by passion or temporary excite- ment, contemplate the accidental calamities which visit one por- tion of the country, and appreciating that rightly in the scale of circumstances, render to it due weight, while it does not subtract the necessary means from other portions. No. A deliberative body, general in its character, varied and diversified, in the inter- est of its members, will necessarily yield to the impulse of cir- cumstances. Motives honest, but certainly impassioned, will in- fluence, and if the appeal is thrilling, govern the action and de- cision of the honorable body. When the statesman with a comprehensive view and clear per- spective, deducing from the past and present, the future condi- tion and necessities of the country, would so dispose his means as to meet the emergency whatever it might be, and acting upon
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