WRITINGS OF SA:M HOUSTON, 184-2
474
good faith to observe. Moreover, the government is and will be totally unable to comply with the requirements of the second sec- tion of the bill directing the Secretary of War to furnish a sufficiency of powder and lead for the supply of Bird's fort. For these reasons, I return the bill to your Honorable Body without my signature. Sam Houston. 1 "Messages of the Presidents," Cong1·essional Pavers; also Executive Rec- ord Boole, No. 40, p. 40, Texas State Library. 2 Under two colonization acts, January 4, 1841, and February 5, 1842, the President of Texas was authorized to enter into contracts with empresarios for the settlement of public vacant lands. A number of contracts under the authorization of these laws were made between 1841 and 1845, the result of which, upon the whole, proved to be unfavorable to Texas, since upon annexation the new immigrants who came to the country found it encum- bered with the old claims. For brief discussions of these colonization con- tracts see J. H. Brown, Histo?iJ of Texas, II, 280-286 and D. G. Wooten (ed.), Comp?·ehensive History of Texas, I, 430, 824-828. More detailed in- formation may be gleaned from various decisions of the Texas Supreme Court on cases of litigation that grew out of these colonial claims, some of which are: Causici vs. La Costa, 20 Texas, 269; McKinney vs. Brown, 51 Texas, 94; Grant vs. Heirs of Wallis, 60 Texas, 350; Todd vs. Masterson, 61 Texas, 618; Hancock vs. Walsh, 3 Woods, 351; Walsh vs. Preston, 109; United States, 297-329; Melton vs. Cobb, 21 Texas, 540; Houston vs. Robert- son, 2 Texas, 23; Hancock vs. McKinney, 7 Texas, 384-441, and a number of others to be found in the Court Records. PROCLAMATION OF ASHBEL SMITH'S APPOINTMENT AS MINISTER. TO FRANCE, FEBRUARY 4, 1842 1 IN THE NAME AND BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, OR MAY CONCERN,-- G R E E T I N G: Be it known that I, Sam Houston, Presi- dent of said Republic of Texas, reposing special trust and full confidence in the honor, fidelity, skill, and capacity of Ashbel Smith do, by these presents, constitute and appoint him, the said Ashbel Smith, By and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to the office of Minister Charge d'Affaires to the Government of France, Giving and hereby granting to him, the said Ashbel Smith full power and authority, as such, to exercise, all and singul~r, the duties, obligations, and trusts to his said Office in
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