WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1842
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1
Executive Department, City of Austin, January 27h., 1842. To the Honorable the House of Representatives: . I herewith respectfully return to your Honorable Body, with-· out my approval, a bill for the relief of William Bryan. 2 He' like many others, has advanced his thousands; and like many· others, also, he must submit to the alternative which stern ueces-_· sity forces upon all our creditors. The government owes to other' single individuals hundreds of thousands of dollars, under the solemn obligation of written contracts, and no special provision has been made in their favor. The country could not, in justice: to herself, make such provision. We are at this time unable to_· pay our debts. We must, therefore, place all our creditors on the same footing and ask them to wait; not that all claims are equally meritorious, but that we are unable to pay any. We should not_· make distinctions and exhibit partiality by preferring the claims of one creditor to those of another of equal grade. All our just. debts merit the earliest attention and, at the earliest moment in' our power, should be discharged·; but that period has not yet_· arrived. We are struggling for our very existence. Upon the' acceptable character of the new currency we are striving to estab- lish, rests the fate of the nation. If by indiscretion or otherwise we raise up obstacles to the successful action of the financial plan we have adopted, the government must dissolve. Upon its failure, this result would be inevitable. The system, therefore, must be: preserved and sustained in healthy action. We occupy a position· extremely critical. No consideration, therefore, amounting to the, accommodation of some few individuals, should induce a de- parture from the only path of safety. Let our creditors for the· time being yield something by way of security for full and final. payment. Without freedom of action at this juncture, we may apprehend the worst consequences. Without a government, the government creditors must remain unpaid. I make use of this opportunity to announce to the House of Representatives, that I shall protect the currency to which we are about to resort, by every means in my power. I can never sanction a diversion of the last and only reliance of the country,! from the objects of absolute necessity contemplated in the passage of the law authorizing the issue of Exchequer bills. In the language of the law, they "shall be paid out for no other
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