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WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1842
the pipe of peace be handed around a council of friends. I will not forget this talk- nor my people. YOUR BROTHER, SAM HOUSTON 1 Crane, Life and Select IAtc1'lt.r1J Remains of Sam Ho11ston, 334. Pa7)ers on Indian Affafrs (official, original copy), Texas State Library. To THE TEXAS SENATEl Executive Department, City of Houston, July 6th, 1842. To the Honorable, the Senate: In compliance with a resolution of your honorable body, of the 5th instant, I herewith transmit a statement~ from the Depart- ment of State, furnishing the information desired in relation to contracts for the colonization and settlement of a portion of our vacant territory, in accordance with the laws regulating said contracts. Sam Houston [Rubric] [Endorsed] : "President'~ Message" relative to Colonization Contracts. Read & Referred to Committee on Public Lands, July 9, 1842. 1 "Messages of the Presidents," Cong1·essional Pape1·s, Sixth Congress, Texas State Library. The official copies of the colonial contracts of the 1840's are to be found in Documents wzde1· the G1·eat Seal, Reco1·d Book, No. 37; and Documents under the G1·eat Seal, Record Book, No. 98, both books in the Texas State Library. Record Book, No. 37 is the great ledger into which the Executive Department copied Proclamations, Treaties, Con- ventions, Colonial Contracts, and other documents issued under the Great Seal of the Republic. Record B:>ok, No. 98 is a similar ledger into which the State Department copied documents issued from that department under the Great Seal. A great deal of the material of the early Texas Govern- ment, once part of the archives of the State Department, has been trans- ferred to the Archives of the Texas State Library, hence both these 1·ecord books of documents under the Great Seal of the Republic are now in the State Library. The original colonial contracts made in the 1840's are somewhat scattered as to location. A few of them are to be found in the Colonial Papers, Texas State Library; most of them are in the General Land Office of Texas, filed with the Colony Books of the various empresarios; one or two of these original contracts have been lost or misplaced; but for all legal purposes the Documents under the Great Seal in either Record Book, No. 37, or Rc01·d Book, No. 98, are accepted by the courts of the state as originals, for they are certified official copies. 2 The statement that was sent up from the State Department is to be found in Cong1·essional Pavers, Sixth Congress, Texas State Library. It was written by Joseph Waples, Acting Secretary of State, under date of July 6, 1842.
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