400
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1841
is neither cheering for the present nor flattering for the future. I heartily regret that truth will not allow me to approach the Con- gress with the usual felicitations of the present and prospective happiness. The time has arrived when facts must be submitted in their simplest dress. Unawed by sectional or party influences, I shall occupy the position my constituents have assigned to me, with unslumbering vigilance, and a sacred determination to act with decision and to speak with candor. The people must be heard and their rights protected. The constitution must be ob- served, and the laws must be obeyed. My intention was to have made this communication to the Hon- c,rable Congress at an earlier day; but, notwithstanding my un- remitting exertions since by inauguration, to make myself ac- quainted with the true condition of the government, I have not yet been able to derive that clear and satisfactory information which I deemed important to the correctness of my opinions. The conclusions I have arrived at, in reference to the existing state of things, and the measures to be adopted to extricate ourselves from crushing embarrassment, and to provide for the absolute wants of the government and the people, will be laid before the Congress, with all the brevity and the importance of the subjects alluded to will permit. The annual message of my predecessor, at the opening of the present session of Congress, has placed the condition of our for- eign relations, generally before you. As yet I have been unable to examine the voluminous correspondence of our agents abroad, on file in the State Office. I cannot, therefore, advise at this time, any particular legislation on the subject. From our contiguity to the United States, and our intimate and daily intercourse with the citizens, the Executive views it a matter of much magnitude to effectuate, at the earliest period, a treaty with that power of a more definite and specific character than that which constitutes the basis of our subsisting relations. I do not doubt that the Congress will provide the necessary means of attaining an object at once so desirable and necessary. We stand in the same attitude towards Mexico, as we did in 1836. Overtures have been made by my predecessor, for the purpose of securing an amicable adjustment of existing difficul- ties; but, as ·often as made, they have been rejected, under cir- cumstances which have not exempted this government from humiliation. Therefore, until a disposition is evinced on the part
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