WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1842
473
nomination of James Bourland for the position. See E. W. Winkler (ed.), Sec1·et Jounuils of the Senate, Republic of Texas, 1836-1845, 220-221.
T'o THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1 Executive Department, City of Austin, February 3, 1842. To the Honorable the House of Representatives: I herewith return to your Honorable Body, a bill "to organize a part of the county of Nacogdoches for judicial and other pur- poses," without my signature. My reasons for this step are al- ready before the Congress, to which I respectfully refer. 2 Sam Houston. 1 "Messages of the Presidents," Congressional Papers; also Execut·ive Rec- ord Boole, No. 40, p. 40, Texas State Library. ~see Houston's Message to the House of Representatives, January 12, 1842. A VETO MESSAGE TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1 Executive Department, City of Austin, February 3, 1842. To the Honorable, the House of Representatives: I find that upon investigation in the General Land Office, that the bill "for the relief of Jonathan Bird, and others," provides for the donation, location and survey of lands to an indefinite extent, already granted to Messrs. Peters, Browning, and Others, by express contracts, under a law of last Congress, and now on file in the Department of State. Under its provisions, thousands of persons might put themselves under the protection of Bird's fort, and locate nearly or quite the entire territory comprehended in the contract alluded to ;-thus depriving the contractors of the compensation which they are legally and equitably entitled to for their trouble and expense in procuring from the government the right to colonize, and then in supplying settlers, many of whom, it is understood, have already arrived, or are on their way to their new homes. To compel, also, the contractors to relinquish the lands to which they are entitled by the terms of their agreement with the gov- ernment, could not be justified upon any principle of expediency or correct dealing. In a word, the passage of the bill would be a plain and palpable violation of a contract between the government and Messrs. Peters, Browning and others/ which the government is bound in
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