WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1860
51
Armstrong, and let him know what is said. I have only a minute to write. We all send regards to you, Colonel Morgan and family. Sam Houston. Smith.
1 Ashbel Smith Papers, University of Texas Library.
To R. H. GILLETT 1
Austin, Texas, May 14, 1860:
Hon. R. H. Gillett, of the Court of Claims Sir: In reply to your letter of April 19th, I have to refer you to the Appendix of Vol. 29, page 1080, Congressional Globe, 1st Session, 33rd Congress. 2 In my speech of July 15, 1854, you will see most of the facts of which you inquire. I have no form of the Commission that you wish, but I can assure you that our commissions of that day were copies from the Blanks of the United States with only such changes as to the names of the two governments, and if you will call on him he will show his commission, and you will find that he has to hold his commission "during the pleasure of the Presi- dent" of the Republic. No one has ever attempted to confute my speech, or any part of it. He was in the city when I spoke, and was in the Senate gallery, at least for part of the time while I was making it. You will see the documents referred to in the speech, and they were official copies. . I think he was commissioned in 1842, and dishonorably dis- missed in 1843; and that the charges "official" which I avowed to the world prove him guilty of willful forgery. You will see in Ex-President Jones' notes that an attempt was made by the Congress of Texas to reinstate him and failed being "vetoed." The regulations of the United States Navy have been adopted by Texas, as her laws will show, and continued in force until annexation. You will perceive from his crimes and conduct that no government on earth could have contemplated the acts of which he was guilty. By referring to the Navy Department, you will see that he is, to this very day, a defaulter under most dishonorable circum- stances. In the face of a protest which I filed in the Navy
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